Lloyd’s has vowed to clean up its act after a workplace survey has revealed what CEO John Neal says are “ugly” levels of inappropriate conduct aimed at women employees.

Some 8% of the 6003 participants involved in the confidential culture survey said they have witnessed sexual harassment in the marketplace during the past 12 months, and 22% have seen colleagues turn a blind eye to inappropriate acts.

About 38% said they don’t know where or to whom they could report their concerns. Only 45% were comfortable raising a concern, with 41% saying they felt they were “taken seriously” when they spoke up.

Another 24% have seen excessive consumption of alcohol and 40% said they felt they were under pressure to perform.

Women respondents were more negative than men.

The culture survey is the largest ever conducted in the market, and was triggered by media reports in March of widespread bullying and harassment at the venerable institution.

“I’m appalled to say 8% of people told us that they have witnessed sexual harassment in the past 12 months in the Lloyd’s market,” Mr Neal says in a video message.

“That’s an ugly figure, and behind that number are the heartbreaking experiences of women – because women usually are the victims.”

Lloyd’s has quickly unveiled new measures to address the market’s toxic culture in the wake of the survey findings. The measures are intended to build on a five-point action plan the business introduced when the sexual harassment reports first emerged.

It will set up a gender balance plan to improve women’s representation at senior levels and set standards of business conduct that must be observed by everyone working in the market. A “culture dashboard” will be established to track progress, and will be published in the market’s annual report each year.

Failure to abide by the new rules could lead to public shaming.

“We will set a target for the market, we will track progress and we will publish what we find every year on an aggregated and anonymised basis to begin with,” Mr Neal says in the video.

“And if we don’t see the dial move, we won’t shy away from naming names. Remember that working in this market is a privilege.”

Click here to view Mr Neal’s video message.