In a recent article, I explored the pervasiveness of accent biases at work. It’s an issue that is also raised in research from the University of Queensland, which finds that people who speak with “non-standard” accents can face discrimination during job interviews.

The researchers explored the experiences of people who were classed as speaking with a non-standard accent versus those that spoke with an accent considered standard.

“We found accent bias was strongest against people in marginalized or minority groups,” they explain. “This is concerning because more than 272 million people live in a country other than their place of birth and one of the top motivations for migration is better job opportunities.”

Unfairly judged

No such judgments appeared for people who spoke with regional accents. For instance, there was no real difference between British-accented English and American-accented English.

“There was, however, strong prejudice between candidates who differed by foreign accent, such as American-accented English versus Chinese-accented English,” the researchers continue.

“We could interpret from these findings that female candidates who have a non-standard accent and candidates with accents that may signal they belong to a minority racial-ethnic group may be subjected to stronger discrimination when being interviewed for jobs.”

The findings highlight the importance of awareness and understanding among those in hiring roles so that they’re cognizant of the possibility of bias and actively work to avoid it creeping into their recruitment decision-making.

“Accent-based discrimination can often fly under the radar, and we hope this research will help increase awareness that it is a reality,” the researchers conclude. “Further research is needed into the underlying processes that contribute to accent-based biases. We also need to identify strategies to mitigate the negative impact these biases have on people.”