IT and financial services professionals are as different as apple and orange when it comes to their eating and drinking habits, with a majority of financial sector employees staying away from alcohol while a significant percentage of IT professionals are tipplers, says a comparative study.
Large cross sections of the financial sector employees are more conservative compared to the IT sector employees, says a new survey by the global consultancy CLSA Asia Pacific.
"This is true of not only about their preferred cuisines while eating out but also of their drinking habits, with 60 per cent of financial sector employees do not taking alcoholic beverages," the survey said.
In contrast, 58 per cent IT employees take alcoholic beverages with nearly half of the them preferring wine or beer, the study said.
Even the choice of their drink varies widely. While nearly half of the 58 per cent IT employees who drink prefer wine or beer, among financial sector employees who consume alcohol, an overwhelming 54 per cent hard liquor -- whisky, rum or vodka.
Overall, the pattern of alcohol consumption is different with 55 per cent of men and 81 per cent of women in financial services sector not consuming alcohol at all.
In IT sector, 36 per cent and 67 per cent men and women respectively do not prefer boozing.
"We believe relatively more traditional behavioural pattern among financial sector employees is a function of location