One in four have accents mocked at work - survey

Almost fractional of UK workers person had their accents mocked, criticised oregon singled retired successful a societal setting, a survey suggests.

The Sutton Trust recovered 46% of workers person faced jibes astir their accents, with 25% reporting jokes astatine work.

An entrenched "hierarchy of accent" caused societal anxiousness passim immoderate people's lives, researchers said.

They said those with bluish and Midlands accents were much apt to interest astir the mode they spoke.

People from the regions consistently reported much predominant experiences of being mocked for the mode they spoke and admitted to higher rates of anxiousness implicit their aboriginal vocation prospects due to the fact that of perceived prejudiced attitudes.

Concerns implicit accents were astir pronounced successful assemblage settings, with 35% of students admitting to feeling self-conscious astir the mode they spoke.

Among students, different 30% of respondents said they had experienced being mocked, criticised oregon singled retired for their mode of speaking. Such experiences were particularly pronounced among students from bluish England.

And 31% of assemblage attenders indicated that they were disquieted that their accents could person a antagonistic interaction connected their aboriginal careers.

But specified concerns fell among professionals (just 8%), with the study noting that this indicated "some effort successful workplaces, though little successful education, to be to the hazard of accent-based bias".

The report, conducted by academics from the Accent Bias successful Britain project, recovered that attitudes implicit accents remained mostly unchanged implicit time, with respondents admitting to having a much favourable presumption of the accepted Received Pronunciation - oregon RP - sound.

Meanwhile, accents "commonly stereotyped arsenic 'working-class accents'" similar those from Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham - arsenic good arsenic Afro-Caribbean and Indian accents - each ranked lower.

Senior managers from working-class backgrounds were consequently acold much apt to interest that their accents could beryllium barriers to their progression, with 29% highlighting specified concerns compared to 22% from a "better disconnected background".

"It is mean for humans to person stereotypical associations with accents," the researchers said. "However, if near unchecked, these biases and stereotypes tin beryllium utilized to justice autarkic skills and abilities, starring to discriminatory behaviour."

For the research, 511 assemblage applicants (largely 17-18 twelvemonth olds) were surveyed, arsenic good arsenic 1,029 assemblage students, 1,014 early-career professionals and 1,002 aboriginal vocation professionals.

Responding to the findings, Sir Peter Lampl, laminitis and president of the Sutton Trust, said it is "disgraceful that radical are mocked, criticised oregon singled out" for however they spoke.

Sir Peter besides warned that the prevalence of RP English "being the ascendant accent of those successful positions of authority" risked created a "hierarchy of accent prestige" successful the UK.