Employees in Victoria’s financial services sector are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol at risky levels and put themselves at risk of diabetes and heart disease than workers in similar industries.

That’s the finding in Monash University research which also shows that most financial services employees do not eat enough fruit and vegetables or do enough exercise.

The study is based on 400,000 workplace health assessments – known as WorkHealth checks – conducted by WorkSafe Victoria. The results include those of almost 14,000 financial services employees.

The study compares financial services workers to employees in the professional, scientific and technical services industry.

It says financial services professionals are 13% more likely to smoke and 8% more likely to drink at risky levels.

Females are slightly more likely to smoke than males (16% compared with 14.3%), while males are more likely to drink alcohol at risky levels (48.2% compared with 33.4%).

One in four (23%) male workers and one in five (21.6%) female workers have high blood glucose levels, and more than a quarter of males have high blood pressure (29.8%) compared with 13.5% of females.

Victorian business leader and WorkHealth ambassador Wayne Kayler-Thomson says an industry that focuses on advising others on minimising risk and on making wise investments could take some of its own advice on health.

“We’re talking about crucial things like reducing absenteeism, boosting productivity and attracting motivated, committed staff to deliver strong results for your business – all of which are linked to the health of your workers,” he said.