'Macho' working hours at banks come under fire

The survey said many City firms penalised employees who ask for flexible working arrangements, even where such schemes were part of company policy.

Unless attitudes changed, the City would drive away the high calibre staff it needed to survive, the report said.

While other sectors of the economy had embraced flexible working, the City remained dominated by a 'macho' long hours culture. The survey was commissioned by Parents at Work, Opportunity Now and the City Parents@Work group.

Workers in the City who were interviewed for the report said requests for shorter hours and other flexible arrangements were frequently interpreted as lack of commitment to career and employer.

&quotWe've got masses of flexible working policies, but you sacrifice promotion so people won't take them up,&quot said one disillusioned employee.

Another said that his wife, also a City worker, would not mention plans to have a child to her employers, because they would assume she intended to resign.

City employers did show some willingness to address the changing expectations of younger entrants to the job market, the report said. At senior level they were much less interested.

As a result, &quotskills losses in the City, particularly among highly trained senior women, run high, and it seems that in general, little is being done to address the problem,&quot the report said.

Howard Davies, chairman of the Financial Services Authority and patron of Parents at Work, said that City firms &quotcannot afford a working culture which causes employees with family or caring responsibilities to rush for the door.

&quotQuality of working life is forcing its way on to the City agenda as a critical business issue.&quot

The report said it believed the City could be on the brink of major cultural change, with firms at last recognising that flexible working arrangements were in their own interests.

It said there was growing evidence that work-life balance policies involved little or no additional costs.

&quotMany bring positive benefits for the company and at worst their impact is generally neutral,&quot the survey said.

Sandy Campbell, Human Resources director at UBS Warburg, said that banks suffered particularly badly from the long-hours culture at times when headcount was falling.

Surviving staff often had to work harder to compensate. &quotIt's productivity that counts,&quot he said. &quotAfter 10 hours or so we know it goes down.&quot