Fri, 11 Jul 2014Employees with strong accents are more angry at work than their Home Counties counterparts because they have to compromise their regional identities, say speech specialists at Manchester University.

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, linguists found that many people felt threatened and frustrated by having to drop their regional accents for fear of being discriminated against in the workplace.

Study leader Dr Alex Baratta said: “This is why ‘accentism’ should be taken seriously as a problem that affects many of us. As part of my ongoing research, many participants see accent modifications as synonymous with selling out and a clear threat to their sense of self.”

Meanwhile, good manners are just as important as qualifications when it comes to getting on in your career, says Tatler editor Kate Reardon.

Reardon told an audience at a leading girls’ school that doors open for people with manners who were also prepared to have face-to-face contact rather than hiding behind a computer screen or mobile phone.

“It doesn’t matter how many A-levels you have, what kind of degree you have, if you have good manners people will like you,” she said. “If they like you, they will help you.”

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