For a significant portion of British workers, speech characteristics remain a source of workplace stress. A new survey, whose results were published by the organisation More in Common, indicates that so-called "accent bias" has not gone away: people continue to feel anxious about their accent in situations where making a professional impression matters. The study covered more than 3,300 adults in England, Scotland and Wales and sought to quantify how regional and foreign speech features affect confidence, career prospects and everyday communication in the workplace.
The scale of the problem: what the numbers say
According to the survey, nearly one in ten respondents admitted to feeling anxious or self-conscious about their accent in high-stakes professional situations — for example, when giving a presentation at a business meeting. Around 5% of participants said their accent had already cost them a promotion, a pay rise or a managerial position. These figures suggest that the problem is not only psychological but also very tangible: pronunciation can directly affect a person's income and status within a company.
Which accents cause the most anxiety
The highest levels of accent-related anxiety were recorded among speakers of the Geordie accent (common in the Newcastle area) and the East London accent known as Cockney: in both groups the figure stood at 19%. Welsh-accented speakers were slightly behind at 18%. Meanwhile, it was most often the "Brummies" — residents of Birmingham — who said their accent had cost them career advancement: in this group the figure reached 13%.
Changing speech and colleagues' mockery
The problem manifests not only in a sense of insecurity. According to the survey, 13% of Britons consciously change their manner of speaking to sound "more professional"; this is most often done by speakers of Cockney and Scottish accents. At the same time, direct pressure from the environment is also recorded: respondents with a West Country accent most often reported mockery or criticism from colleagues (15%), while among Geordie speakers this figure was 13%. The survey was commissioned by the organisation Common Ground, which works on social cohesion and helping people from disadvantaged families find employment; its founder Lara Newman said that she herself had changed her accent in order to succeed, believing that a strong West Country accent could have hindered her entry to university and her job search. "The problem is that an accent implies a level of education or class belonging," she explained.
Contradictory data
Here there is a notable discrepancy between employers' statements and workers' real experience. On the one hand, most employers declare a desire to treat candidates and employees equally regardless of their pronunciation. On the other hand, the survey records persistent anxiety, speech self-censorship and even direct mockery in the workplace, which indicates that formal equality in words does not yet match practice. Thus, the two sides' accounts do not add up: employers claim a neutral attitude towards accent, while a significant share of workers testify that pronunciation still works against them.
Expert view: is the situation changing
The study notes that a barrier to employment can be not only a regional but also a foreign accent. At the same time, experts point to positive dynamics: LinkedIn career consultant Charlotte Davis believes that the situation is gradually changing and hiring increasingly depends on skills rather than experience or conformity to some "idea of a professional image". Nevertheless, according to the survey's authors, for people from disadvantaged families accent remains one of the barriers to work, and therefore the problem requires attention not only from individual companies but also within a broader social mobility policy.
