Your accent might imply you miss out on getting your dream job

Jun 15, 2023 at 7:37 AM

Around one in 5 Brits consider their accent, background, or perceived class has meant they missed out on a job.

A Co-op survey of round 8,500 folks discovered round one in 10 have been teased for the way in which they speak. This has led to some folks altering the way in which they sound for interviews.

The firm stated it was taking motion to deal with the difficulty after its examine revealed that many individuals consider the alternatives out there to them are fewer and the outlook more durable, due to their background.

In mild of the analysis, the Co-op stated it’s introducing a marketing strategy on social mobility, which incorporates altering inside job adverts to make it simpler for employees to discover a new function, persevering with plans to enhance its monetary wellbeing supply to assist workers be extra financially resilient, and establishing a mentoring scheme for these from decrease socio-economic backgrounds

The firm additionally set out plans to ask the Government to make socio-economic background a protected attribute, and can look to publish a socio-economic class pay hole report in 2024.

Shirine Khoury-Haq, chief government of the Co-op Group, stated: “Too often our life chances are defined by things outside of our control, be that gender, ethnicity, disability or socio-economic background.

“It cannot be right that those from less advantaged backgrounds are almost twice as likely to end up in working class jobs than others from more privileged backgrounds. It’s a question of fairness.

“Our evidence shows socio-economic background can act as a brake on progression and performance. This has to change.

“We want to lead by example, taking action to identify where unfairness is holding our people back.

“That’s why we’ve announced a range of measures today to break through these barriers, and that’s why we are also calling on the Government and other parties to make it a priority in their manifesto – for socio-economic background to be made the 10th protected characteristic under the Equalities Act 2010 and it becoming illegal to discriminate against an individual because of their background.”

Sarah Atkinson, chief government of the Social Mobility Foundation, commented: “We welcome Co-op’s ambitious plan to improve social mobility and smash the class ceiling.

“The workplace is as important as the classroom for improving social mobility, and it is excellent to see Co-op take a lead on this issue.”