If survey predictions are accurate, the composition and tonal qualities of the UK parliament may be greatly altered after the general election on July 4th. Conservative party members, who predominantly speak in RP, received pronunciation, or BBC English – the accent typically regarded as most prestigious, held sway in the last 2019 election. Only 37 per cent of their Labour Party rivals share this way of speaking. Predictions of a Labour success could shift the auditory landscape of Westminster.
Despite this, one element is likely to remain constant – the majority of MPs are still likely to have a plusher accent than their electorate, as less than 10 per cent of Brits use RP. This figure took me by surprise, possibly because I frequently listen to RP-heavy broadcasts of British news, government ministers, businesspeople, lawyers and other highly-qualified professionals.
These statistics were procured from a reputable source: Devyani Sharma, a professor of linguistics whom I recently met. She’s part of the Accent Bias Britain scholarly project, founded in 2017 to study discrimination based on accents in the workplace. Surprisingly, there’s positive news: while employers may treat those with working-class accents more harshly than RP speakers, the project’s studies reveal that this bias lessens once individuals become aware of the issue.
More significantly, the requests for accent bias training from top employers are increasing. Sharma, who conducts corporate workshops utilising the research findings from their project, is having a hard time meeting the demand. When we conversed, she had conducted a session for a prominent Wall Street bank and a top legal firm in the city. Public services, agencies, and charities have also asked for such sessions, with requests currently coming in weekly.
Sharma expressed surprise at the high demand for their offerings, saying, “We’ve had a very unexpected level of uptake and interest.” She believes the current climate is conducive to addressing this issue. The training approach Sharma and her team have developed is straightforward. It demonstrates how we instinctively form immediate judgements about each other and our respective social classes, the moment we hear someone utter a word.
In the United Kingdom, public perceptions about what constitutes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ accent have remained remarkably fixed over the past half-century, a trend that is not exclusive to the British Isles. The traditional British accent, referred to as “Received Pronunciation,” still holds the most prestige and ranks at the pinnacle when it comes to favourably viewed accents. It’s followed by French, Australian, Kiwi, and Scottish accents in the top 10, while the accent native to Birmingham finds itself in the bottom 10, sharing the spot with accents such as Indian, Cockney, Liverpool and African-Caribbean.
A study from 2006 revealed shocking facts, wherein 76% of employers admitted to bias against prospective employees due to their accents. Addressing these inklings of bias appears to be the most straightforward method to combat prejudices that could deter qualified individuals from ascending the career ladder, according to Sharma.
Amidst recruitment processes, the research indicates the importance of emphasizing to hiring teams that interviewees with Received Pronunciation may be received more warmly than their counterparts. Recruiters and human resource teams should instead concentrate on the applicants’ skill set and knowledge, the research suggests.
There’s some optimism for non RP-speakers. The study suggests that speaking with assurance and expertise could minimise and even eliminate discrimination tied to accents.
Organisations, of course, are not the ultimate problem solvers. The situation of young working-class individuals fearing their accent may diminish their chances of working in areas such as law, the City or the civil service was starkly revealed in a BBC programme in 2022, “How to Crack the Class Ceiling,” fronted by Amol Rajan, who himself does not speak with Received Pronunciation.
Such fears indeed hold weight, more for some than others. Notably, a revealing statistic about the 2019 parliamentary intake exhibited that MPs from ethnic minorities, particularly those of Asian descent, were far more likely to have a Received Pronunciation accent than white MPs.
It would require a considerable shift to see a significant change in this trend post this year’s election. However, if greater shed light on accent bias sparks more awareness, it’s plausible that we could see it dissipate, opening doors to more diverse workplaces in the future. — Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024.