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Compared to discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, or religion, biases against accents can seem more acceptable. But anti-accent bias is real — and rampant; people are commonly judged by how they speak.
That’s especially true in the workplace, particularly in offshore call centers, where customers who encounter agents with accents deemed unacceptable often treat them rudely, calling into question their competence and intelligence. In turn, employers may struggle to retain employees.
In addition to a voice accent changer, what can be done to address accent challenges in the workplace? Read on.
What is an Accent?
An accent is a distinct way of pronouncing a language, particularly a mode that’s associated with a certain country, region or locality, or socioeconomic class. In other words, it’s how you sound when you speak.
By the way, everyone has an accent. You may think you don’t because you don’t sound British or Australian, for example. But consider how you must sound to those from those countries.
What Can Be Done About Accent Bias?
For starters, employers should acknowledge the problem. Accent bias should be recognized as a key diversity issue, one that should be addressed commensurate with efforts to mitigate other forms of discrimination. Such an approach could be part of a broader strategy to increase representation of those from a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
There are other steps companies can take to lower instances of workplace accent discrimination.
Heighten Understanding and Awareness
All employees, particularly those in recruitment, can receive employer-sponsored training to help them recognize their own accent biases. Companies should also be certain that employees understand that mocking or other discriminatory behavior will not be tolerated at work or at work-related social events.
Hire Candidates with a Variety of Accents
If employees keep hearing the same accents at work, they won’t be used to hearing new ones. In turn, subconscious biases could remain. That is why employers should consider hiring candidates who possess an array of accents. They also should not make employees speak with a specific accent, such as the “Queen’s English.”
Improve Recruiting
Recruiters should ensure that opportunities are available and accessible to job candidates from disparate countries, regions, and socioeconomic backgrounds. One idea is to focus outreach on local schools and communities and offer support to new hires throughout their career.
Have Better Data Measurement
What cannot be measured usually cannot be managed. Data reporting, as it relates to race, gender, socioeconomics, and now, accent bias, is key to helping companies improve workplace diversity.
Employers can use the collected data to improve how they recruit and to establish internal benchmarks that can help to track employees’ progression from, say, lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Such tools can play a key role in backing these employees’ career success.
Get an Accent Translator
Real-time accent translation, such as the AI speech-understanding tool offered by Sanas.ai, reduces accent-based discrimination while increasing employment opportunities globally and improving agent-customer interactions. Clear communication improves agents’ confidence, resulting in happier customers.
The benefits of an inclusive and diverse workplace have long been documented. But the fact remains that people whose accents are considered unappealing can have employment issues. That’s particularly true with call center representatives and other roles that require lots of verbal communication. Thankfully, there are ways to address such challenges.
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This content is brought to you by Chris Reyes
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