Strong regional and “working class” accents might hold people back in their careers as will a “posh” accent, according to the business leaders.
The worst accent for a top job would be a “working-class” Essex accent with 70 per cent of respondents admitting they might have serious doubts about employing someone who spoke with one.
David Beckham’s cockney twangs also fail to impress with 49 per cent believing this accent could present a problem in business.
The next least popular male accent in a senior role belonged to Prince Charles with nearly a third of business leaders admitting they would have second thoughts about employing an executive who sounded like him.
The “best” accents selected from a list were those belonging to Peter Jones (Dragon’s Den) and Clare Balding (Sports Presenter) – whose accents are both hard to place.
The regional accents most closely associated with success are Home Counties’ and American according to 61 per cent of respondents.
This is closely followed by Scottish (46.8 per cent).
