Accentuate the positive

As news came in last week that Americans think the Glaswegian accent is Britain’s sexiest, I got thinking.

First, I thought how much I’d personally be caught in a lift with Benedict Cumberbatch than Rab C. Nesbitt.

Then, as usual, I got thinking about HR.

Accents are funny things. Some charm, some grate, some inspire, some deflate – and which does what can be heavily dependent on your own, personal background. But we all have an accent, which can lead to some tricky issues in the workplace.

So, what does the savvy HR pro think about accents? Let me explain.

We let negative associations sway our opinions

Centuries ago, accents played an important role in establishing understanding of likely motivations. If someone spoke like you, you knew they were probably all right. If they didn’t, there was a good chance that they’d recently hopped off a boat and were likely to pillage your bearskin collection.

Trouble is that we still associate, deep down, linguistic difference with potential danger. (Those of you well-up on D&I and diversity training will be way ahead of me here.) We need to be aware of these (now erroneous) preconceptions in order to disregard them when making any kind of qualitative judgement of the people we meet.

For example, we need to not assume a Brummie is unintelligent. (As this incredible article shows, people are more likely to ascribe intelligence to someone who says nothing at all than someone who talks with a Birmingham accent.)

Other preconceptions to rid yourself of include: Liverpudlians are all chancers, Mancunians are all miserable, Essex people all worship bling and that when a Scot takes a note out of his wallet, the Queen blinks in the light.

We also let positive associations sway our opinions

But let’s not forget that sometimes we wrongly attribute positive qualities to people based on their accents, too. It’s just as foolish to assume that Geordies are all friendly, Cockneys canny, the Irish articulate and Aussies resolutely down-to-earth.

According to a ComRes survey, 63% of people think that Received Pronunciation (RP) is an intelligent accent, while only 15% think the same of Scouse.

Years ago I hired a girl with a plummy accent because I thought she was bright and well-educated. It was only when she clogged the toaster with baked beans (‘I was trying to make beans on toast, boss!’) that I realised I’d made a schoolgirl error.

Our opinions are widely shared

But here’s the rub. We mightn’t think Scousers are inherently unfriendly, but a lot of the public do. (26%, as it happens.) So what does this mean when we’re hiring into, say, a contact centre?

Do we do what’s right, and hire the Scousers regardless, risking the alienation of misguided customers? Or do we play to the market’s ignorance, and not hire Scousers for the – ahem – good of the business?

(For what it’s worth, I suspect we should hire Scousers and make sure that everyone in our contact centre team is up to speed with our superlative service standards. Answers on a postcard, though.)

Colleagues use accents to gauge collegiality

Given we are conditioned into being wary of furriners, it’s no surprise to learn that people are generally more kindly disposed toward people with accents similar to their own.

After all, what’s someone with a Cumbrian accent going to know or care about West ‘am, pie and mash or doing the Lambeth Walk with the Pearly Kings and Queens? (OK, so I’m improvising here.)

Which brings us to another fascinating statistic: more than one in five Britons will occasionally change the way they talk, in interviews or on dates, for example.

11% of Londoners have tried to make themselves sound less posh, presumably as an attempt to ingratiate themselves with those they suspect will be intimidated by their social and/or economic status.

Accent discrimination is not illegal

Strictly speaking, there isn’t any legislation that specifically says you can’t discriminate against a type of British accent. (However, you might quickly end up in hot water if you discriminate against someone for having a foreign accent.)

Perhaps the best course of action is to deter accent discrimination as part of D&I guidance, much as you would deter racism, sexism or disablism.

Anyhoo, that’s enough explaining for now. ‘Til next time – sithee, as we say back home!

About the author

Gaynor The Explainer

Gaynor is an HR practitioner who would like to remain anonymous. However, we can say that her background is commercial HR and in her spare time she enjoys drawing, drinking and dancing. (And yes, sometimes at the same time.) If you'd like her to have a go at explaining anything HR related, let us know.