Lloyd's of London bans drinking on the clock

[Zaune]

BBC News

Lloyd's of London angers staff with workday boozing ban

The days of the three-hour, five-bottle City lunch appear to be well and truly over after Lloyd's of London introduced a booze ban.

The insurance market has told its 800 employees that they are not allowed to drink alcohol between 09:00 and 17:00.

Lloyd's said it had been considering the move for some time to bring it into line with "industry norms".

The ban applies to Lloyd's staff, not brokers and underwriters doing business in the historic insurance market.

But angry staff have called the new measures "heavy-handed".

Workers took to Lloyd's intranet to air their grievances, with one asking: "Will we be asked to go to bed earlier soon?"

According to the London Evening Standard, another asked: "Did I just wake up from my drunken induced slumber to find we are now living in Orwell's 1984?"

The boozy lunch had long been a staple of City life when deals were done and contacts made.

A spokesman for Lloyd's said: "There is no denying that it has traditionally been part and parcel of this type of business."

In an internal memo to staff, Lloyd's said an examination of grievance and disciplinary cases over the last two years found that about half were related to alcohol.

A Lloyd's spokesman said that the market had changed and that Lloyd's wanted to attract younger people to the industry.

He added that Lloyd's wanted to bring its employee guide into line with other companies, such as QBE, which advises staff not to drink as opposed to an outright ban.

He said that if someone was found to have broken the rule, their manager will decide on the best course of action to take.

My heart bleeds for them, truly.

[Dartzap]

Hope they like Becks Blue!

Can't be many jobs outside of journalism and finance where you can even get time to hit the pubs for lunch these days. Can't say it's a disappointing cultural loss.

[Gandalf]

According to the London Evening Standard, another asked: "Did I just wake up from my drunken induced slumber to find we are now living in Orwell's 1984?"

I normally despise invocations of Nineteen Eighty-Four, but this is brilliant comedy.

[Raw Shark]

[sung to the tune of the Beatles song]

Oh, wouldn't it be nice to drink tequila
When I'm driving douchebags in my cab?
Just one shot here or there
Would make my night so much less drab...

[streetad]

I remember once taking a brewery tour around Prague and the tour guide was complaining bitterly that he had been banned from drinking until his final tour of the day after an 'incident'.

[Alferd Packer]

I remember once taking a brewery tour around Prague and the tour guide was complaining bitterly that he had been banned from drinking until his final tour of the day after an 'incident'.

"That brewery makes ten thousand bottles of beer a day. I drink 45 and suddenly I'm the asshole."

On a slight more on topic note, I've been to many, many breweries as they've popped up across the country in the last five years. The well-run ones almost invariably have a policy of no drinking on the job, or perhaps one beer at the end of your shift.

[The_Saint]

Major brewery here only stopped on the job drinks about ten years ago because they found the old hands would drink "responsibly" /remain functional whereas the new Gen X/Y's would just get plastered and have to go home.