Maybe I shouldn't have done Strictly and missed my husband's 50th birthday!

She's the steely Dragons’ Den investor worth tens of millions but even Deborah Meaden admits to making the occasional bad call when it comes to her home life..

- ross kaniuk

WOE betide any cashstrapped entrepreneur who stands before Dragons' Den investor Deborah Meaden without having their sums ready and correct.

As fans of the long-running BBC show know, the multi-millionaire businesswoman is its most fearsome Dragon. When Meaden is displeased, she purses her lips and narrows her turquoise eyes, a sign she's about to tear into some deluded unfortunate.

And while the former Strictly Come Dancing star can radiate smiley warmth, her straight talking has made her synonymous with business success, netting her more than £6million from 60 investments during 18 years on the show.

So can it be true that the very same Deborah Meaden is now advocating for a IN dramatic overhaul of the business world for the good of its workers? Her firm gaze says yes.

Meaden is backing a new study which has found three in four workers are unhappy at work, with many saying it is harming their physical or mental health, or personal relationships.

The research, from tech giant HP's Work Relationship Index, found 50 per cent of employees have also raised their expectations around how they should be treated over the past three years, including when it comes to greater flexibility about when and where they work.

"Sadly this didn't come as a surprise to me," said Meaden.

"But people are much happier to voice it now. Post-Covid, people are taking the time to think about what they want out of life. And that often means aligning what they want from work and outside of it." She continued: "When I started my work, I liked the independence of my own business, and benefiting from good decisions, and taking the consequences of bad ones. Now it's clear the next, generation want to feel like human beings. They want their leaders to have empathy and passion.