CorpComms Magazine

A strong regional or 'working class' accent could hold you back in your career, so say almost three quarters of business leaders, according to a recent poll by communications consultancy The Aziz Corporation.

More than two thirds of people said that they would have serious doubts about employing someone for a senior role who sounded like Essex-girl Stacey Solomon.

Almost half of those surveyed said that an accent akin to David Beckham's could present a problem in business. In contrast, the next least popular accent in the list was a Prince Charles' type accent, with almost one third of business leaders agreeing that they would have second thoughts about hiring an executive who sounded like the first in line to the throne.

The accents considered 'best' for the job belonged to Peter Jones from television show Dragon's Den, and sports presenter Clare Balding.

The accent that fared the worst was the Liverpudlian one, as almost two fifths of respondents associated it with a lack of hard work and reliability. On the other hand, more than half associated an Indian accent with hard work, followed closely by the Scottish accent and then the American accent.

Professor Khalid Aziz, chairman of The Aziz Corporation, said: 'This survey shows yet again that many potential business leaders may be condemned by their accent. There will be those who will argue that this survey points up prejudice.  If that is so sadly not much seems to have changed in the last six years and in some cases, the Scouse accent, attitudes have hardened.'

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