Happening on ERE: People With Accents Need Not Apply

Jan 14, 2021

This article is part of a series called Happening on ERE.

Discrimination comes in all forms, and one that rarely gets discussed is accent discrimination. As recruiting technologist Ali Hackett points out, “Studies show that it takes us less than 30 seconds to linguistically profile a speaker. American children as young as 10 think that Northern accents sound ”smarter” and more “in charge”; while people with non-standard accents (such as Russian or Japanese) face disadvantages in pay and are much less likely to be promoted to senior management positions. What’s more, some LinkedIn job listings still demand neutral accents, potentially in breach of U.S equal employment law.”

So what can organizations to address such bias?

Head over to ERE to read “Is Accentism the Last Taboo in Recruiting?”

This article is part of a series called Happening on ERE.

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