Are you aware of your accent at work? If the answer is ‘no’, I’d hazard a guess that you’re probably posh, from the south of England, or both.
In a new documentary, How to Crack the Class Ceiling, Amol Rajan meets students and young professionals who say they’re being held back by their social class.
It’s a follow-up to his 2019 documentary, How to Break Into the Elite, which got the nation talking, but sadly didn’t spark the real change people from working class backgrounds need.
In the latest two-parter, Rajan meets Chris – a graduate from from Hull who doesn’t believe he has the right accent to secure his dream job. Chris reveals he’s even watched YouTube videos to try to change his voice.
“You watch the media and the TV and they always say, if you’ve got a northern accent, you’re less likely to get into these things,” he tells the journalist and presenter. “I sort of feel like the accent I’ve got sounds a bit stupid.”
The scene is all too relatable for those of us who’ve had comments about our accents at college, university or work.
When Philippa* was working in an NHS office in Cardiff, her Welsh manager kept asking others to “translate” what she was saying, claiming he couldn’t understand her accent.
“I’m from Darlington, north east England, and my accent isn’t even that strong,” the 37-year-old tells HuffPost UK. “No-one has ever struggled to understand it. Although I think he was half-joking and taking the mick, as I was the only English person in the team.”
Nicci, who works in digital PR in London, has experienced the exact opposite.
“My accent isn’t even my accent anymore!” says Nicci, who’s originally from north Wales. “It’s a mashup of trying to blend in around English speakers.”
Our accents are one of the first and most obvious indicators of our backgrounds when we meet new people. And in the workplace, they’re continually weaponised against us.
In fact, almost half of employees have had their accent mocked, criticised or singled out in a social setting, according to recent research. A quarter say this treatment has taken place in a work-based situation.
The Sutton Trust’s Speaking Up report examined the impact that someone’s accent has on their journey through education and into the workplace, based on the experiences of sixth-formers, university students and professionals.
It uncovered a “long-standing hierarchy of accent prestige” in Britain, where those with certain regional or working class accents are actively disadvantaged at key junctures for social mobility, such as job interviews.
“This creates a negative cycle, whereby regional, working class, and minority ethnic accents are heard less in some careers or positions of authority, reinforcing anxiety and marginalisation for those speakers,” explains Professor Devyani Sharma from Queen Mary University London, author of the report.
Professor Sharma’s research also uncovered which accents are viewed most favourably by others and it seems “the standard received pronunciation (RP) accent” still ranks highly.
If you’ve got no idea what this means, the British Library describes RP as “regionally non-specific”. But if you search ‘RP accent’ on YouTube, the clips all sound suspiciously southern.
Other accents that ranked highly in the study were French-accented English and “national” standard varieties of English, including Scottish, American and Southern Irish accents.
The research found that at all life stages, those from lower socio-economic backgrounds reported “significantly more mocking” in the workplace and social settings because of their accent.
Many of us are also worried about being set back because of our working class roots. For those in senior managerial roles from lower socio-economic backgrounds, 21% were worried their accent could affect their ability to succeed in the future, compared to 12% from better-off families,
But Lucy, a 36-year-old writer originally from the Midlands, says mocking and anxiety based on perceived class can also go the other way.
“I am fairly well-spoken, when I lived and worked in Newcastle with an office full of Geordies my ‘posh’ voice was used against me, to the point my boss mocked it in front of everyone at a Christmas party,” she says. “Imagine if I had mocked their Geordie accents, I’d be seen as a total snob, yet they thought it was fine to do it to me!”
The research found accents associated with industrial cities of England, like Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham – commonly stereotyped as “working class accents” – and ethnic minority accents (particularly Afro-Caribbean, Indian) are the lowest ranked.
Katie, a 36-year-old who works in the music industry, says she’s all-too aware of the stereotypes associated with Liverpudlians.
“I’ve experienced a strange kind of reverse discrimination when meeting people in the music industry (predominantly based in London) who expect me to have a thick Scouse accent and seem almost relieved that I have a ‘normal’ accent, whatever that means. There’s then usually a few wisecracks about not having to watch their wallet or their car keys,” she says.
“It just makes me angry really, and aware of how far there is to go in terms of people’s perception of northern/regional towns and cities.
“That parochial London mindset that thinks nothing of any worth or relevance exists beyond Luton is extremely depressing and I think symptomatic of a larger problem with the country’s economy.”
Meanwhile Dimana Markova, a 27-year-old freelancer who works in marketing, says her mild Eastern European accent has been “very noticeable” at previous workplaces.
“I had one colleague in particular who was quite passionate about Brexit as a topic of conversation, even though it was office politics to avoid it,” she says. “One time, in particular, that same colleague was very vocal about the fact that international employees shouldn’t be allowed to go on work trips because they won’t represent the company in the best light.”
So, what’s the solution?
In the documentary, Rajan meets a coach who’s giving students at an East London school etiquette lessons – which include the way they speak. But both acknowledge this isn’t a longterm solution, as it expects kids from working class backgrounds to change, rather than working to fix a broken system.
The Sutton Trust report said employers should aim to have a range of accents within their organisation, and action to tackle accent bias should be seen as an important diversity issue in the workplace.
In advice for students and employees, it said it’s best to avoid focusing excessively on accent modification, and instead focus on subject knowledge and confident public speaking.
And if you’re tempted to make a ‘joke’ about someone’s accent? Do us all a favour and keep it to yourself.
*Surnames have been omitted to provide anonymity.
How to Crack the Class Ceiling is on BBC iPlayer now and will air on BBC Two at 9pm on Tuesday December 6.