Month: September 2023

Passionate teams are higher in team progress, regardless of whether that passion is focused on one or multiple team activities, finds new research.
According to Associate Professor Ewald Kibler, Head of the Entrepreneurship Unit at Aalto, and postdoctoral researcher Bernadetta A. Ginting-Szczesny, team entrepreneurial passion (TEP) plays an important role in business ventures as it can positively impact team outcomes and venture performance.
Analysing survey data on 326 individuals from 107 teams at Finnish SMEs, they suggest having a shared passion helps teams work together toward a common goal while maintaining focus and motivation.
Nevertheless, they find some additional advantages to directing this passion at multiple activities.
For instance, teams with multiple focuses for their TEP are higher in team potency and team identification compared to teams with single-focus TEP. The researchers suggest this shows teams that are passionate toward multiple key activities are more confident in their abilities as a team.
“When a team has high diversity in individual passions without a shared TEP, team performance could suffer. Yet, when a team has shared TEP that incorporates multiple focuses, the impact of that TEP on the team outcomes is positive,” explains Prof. Ewald Kibler.
The study finds that teams in which people display high levels of compassion, towards others and themselves, tend to experience more polyfocal TEP.
“Managers should devote attention to creating cultures that help team members openly communicate their individual passions, allowing them to contribute positively to their teams while minimising conflicts. These emotional aspects of the team are critical for team dynamics and performance, and should receive attention both in the initial team formation stage and throughout ongoing team operations,” says Bernadetta A. Ginting-Szczesny.
Read more:
Passionate firms make more progress, research finds

Awell, a digital health platform to build, operate and continuously improve clinical workflows, has secured $5m in seed funding.
The round was led by Octopus Ventures, with additional participation from S16, and angel investors including healthcare veteran Lord David Prior, former chair of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).
Awell is used by clinicians to reduce the manual burden of traditional paper-based workflows, and to manage different technologies used in patient care on one platform. It also enables users to swiftly design and continuously update clinical workflows.
Inefficiencies in traditional workflows used to manage care can compromise patient wellbeing and increase strain on care teams. Research from SAGE has shown that paperwork is the single biggest perceived time waster by doctors and nurses.
Meanwhile, a rapid increase in the amount of published medical research has led to a gap between scientific research and clinical practice. A recent study showed that clinicians would need over 26 hours per day to follow national care guidelines for an average number of patients.
Awell tackles this problem by equipping medical teams to automate clinical workflows such as triage, patient onboarding, and care plans, while synchronizing data between different systems.
A study by AZ Delta found that a single lung cancer care process implemented by Awell increased overall patient survival by 55%. The company’s users include healthcare providers in the US such as Patina Health and Parsley Health.
Founded by Belgian entrepreneur Thomas Vande Casteele, Awell has seen monthly active patient numbers grow by 522% in the first six months of 2023. Since launching in July 2022, Awell has also led the development of a ‘CareOps’ community, which includes more than 3000 healthcare operators committed to continuously improving care flows and increasing the quality of patient care.
Commenting on the announcement, CEO & Founder of Awell Thomas Vande Casteele, said: “When you or a loved one gets hospitalised, it becomes painfully obvious how broken current clinical workflows are. Overwhelmed doctors wade through endless admin, patients juggle a different point solution for each medical condition, and care teams are forced to stay up-to-date with more medical research than they can handle.
“Our journey is inspired by these challenges faced by care teams across the world. We are on a mission to drive real change in the sector, supporting those on the frontline of healthcare by making care flows work harder than care teams. We’re delighted by recent customer growth in the US and across Europe, and nothing epitomizes the need for a solution to continuously improve care flows more than the rapid growth of the CareOps community in such a short space of time.”
Awell will use the funding to further increase product innovation and grow its team. It will target expansion in the US, particularly in growing relationships with traditional care organizations. The company also plans to make targeted investments in R&D to enable customers to tackle increasingly complex clinical workflows.
Prior to founding Awell, Vande Casteele set up an ecommerce and digital marketing business whose clients included Samsung, Audi and Nestlé.
Matthieu Vallin at Octopus Ventures stated: “Clinical workflows and patient pathways are broken in much of today’s healthcare environment. Thomas and his team have built an exceptional platform for providers and digital health companies to build, test, and deploy clinical workflows efficiently, while integrating seamlessly into their existing stacks.
“Awell has the potential to drastically improve care delivery while enabling healthcare organizations to improve operationally. Octopus is thrilled to play a part in supporting Awell as the company transforms how digital health is built and delivered to patients.”
Read more:
Digital health platform Awell secures $5m investment to automate and streamline care workflows

The vast majority of employees believe they would benefit from financial education and guidance from their employers, but only a third have access to it, according to new data.
The data, sourced by the global employee pay company CloudPay, revealed that 91% of employees believe that they or their colleagues would benefit from employer-led financial education, support and advice, however, only 34% currently have access to it.
CloudPay’s data also showed that the number of people using Earned Wage Access (EWA) to pay for household bills grew between January and July 2023, highlighting the ongoing challenges that many are facing due to the cost-of-living crisis and other inflationary pressures. Employers are being encouraged to modernise pay and payroll processes in order to better support their staff in light of the challenges many are facing in the current economic climate.
Judith Lamb, Vice President of Global HR at CloudPay, said. “It’s no secret that many people are facing significant difficulties managing their finances in the challenging conditions that we’re currently experiencing. However, it’s also clear that staff are looking for additional financial education from their employers to help them navigate this tough period. There’s very little resource for education around money management in the UK school system and the onus is falling on employers to provide information that can help professionals to tackle conditions that they have never faced before.”
“Providing this sort of education isn’t only just the right thing to do, it can also prevent staff attrition levels rising as employees move to source better pay. Few organisations can afford to continue offering higher salaries at the moment, but providing education around how employees can better manage their available resources can help salaries to go further. The onus is on employers to lead this charge as there’s currently a major gap in the market for this sort of expertise. Being able to access earned wages as and when they are needed can obviously provide a huge helping hand, however, there’s clearly a demand for greater degrees of financial education on top of this.”
Read more:
Staff want financial education from employers, but few have access

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group is in talks to sell its Missguided clothing brand to online fashion giant Shein.
Talks about a deal, which were first reported by Sky News, come only a year after Frasers took over the brand.
Frasers Group bought Missguided for £20m last year after the online fashion retailer collapsed into administration.
Shein, which was founded in China in 2008, is a global giant in the world of fast fashion.
According to Sky, a deal is likely to see Shein buy Missguided’s brand and other intellectual property, while the head office is retained by Frasers.
Manchester-based Missguided was founded by Nitin Passi in 2009 and grew to become one of the UK’s biggest online fashion players.
But after suffering from supply chain problems, rising freight costs and increasing competition from rivals, it fell into administration in May 2022, before being picked up by Frasers Group.
Frasers – which owns the Mike Ashley-founded Sports Direct chain – has expanded rapidly by buying brands that have fallen into trouble. including Game, Evans Cycles, Jack Wills and Sofa.com.
While Mike Ashley is no longer Frasers’ chief executive, with son-in-law Michael Murray taking over the role, he owns a majority stake in the firm.
Shein – which now has its headquarters in Singapore – saw sales surge during the Covid pandemic when lockdowns led to a jump in online shopping.
It was valued at about $66bn earlier this year, although that was lower than a previous valuation of around $100bn.
There has been speculation that Shein will seek to list its shares in the US.
However, in May a group of US lawmakers called for Shein to be investigated over claims that people from China’s mostly Muslim Uyghur population were use as forced labour to make some of the clothes it sells.
Human rights groups and Western governments, including the US and UK, have accused China of committing crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs.
In response, a spokeswoman for Shein said : “We have zero tolerance for forced labour.
“Our suppliers must adhere to a strict code of conduct that is aligned to the International Labour Organization’s core conventions.”
Read more:
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group in talks with Shein to buy Missguided

The UK Government has today announced that every Postmaster who was wrongfully convicted and has had their conviction overturned as it was reliant on Horizon evidence will be offered an optional sum of up to £600,000 in compensation.
All reasonable legal fees will continue to be covered and any Postmaster who does not want to accept this offer can continue with the existing process.
For those postmasters who have already received initial compensation payments or have reached a settlement with the Post Office of less than the £600,000, they will be paid the difference.
Our aim is to ensure as many Postmasters involved receive this offer of compensation as fast as possible to help bring a resolution to the scandal. This includes any Postmasters who overturn their convictions in the future based on Horizon evidence – they too will be entitled to today’s compensation.
Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “This is about righting a wrong and providing some form of relief to those wrongfully caught up in this scandal.
“Too many Postmasters have suffered and for too long, which is why the Government remains committed to seeing this through to the end until it is resolved and ensuring this cannot ever happen again.”
Starting in the late 1990s, the Post Office began installing Horizon accounting software, but faults in the software led to shortfalls in branches’ accounts. The Post Office demanded sub-postmasters cover the shortfalls, and in many cases wrongfully prosecuted them between 1999 and 2015 for false accounting or theft.
Postmasters who were wrongfully convicted have been forced to endure great hardships, losing clean criminal records, loss of liberty and huge financial losses – that is why the Government believes today’s announcement can finally bring the pain to a close.
The Government has already set up the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and provided it with the necessary statutory powers to ensure it can investigate what happened, establish the facts and make recommendations for the future. The Inquiry is progressing and we will continue to cooperate fully to ensure that the facts of what happened are established and lessons learned.
To date, 86 convictions have been overturned and £21 million has been paid in compensation to postmasters with overturned convictions.
The Overturned Convictions process, Horizon Shortfall Scheme and Group Litigation Order have in total paid more than £120 million to 2,600 individuals affected by the Horizon scandal.
Read more:
Government announces £600,000 of new compensation for every wrongfully convicted Postmaster

A lot has been happening in the world of sports betting – but one of the most impactful developments in recent years is that of in-play betting – live betting, particularly on football matches.
This more dynamic way of betting has completely transformed the way we bet on the sport, giving us even more real-time excitement and, even better, the chance to win money on the match as it plays out.
So, without further ado, let’s tackle the evolution, appeal and impact of in-play betting on football.
The Evolution of In-Play Betting
In-play betting – often referred to as live betting, is simply the act of placing bets on a match whilst it is in play. Although in-play betting has been around for decades, with the introduction of the internet for betting – and mobile technology meaning you can place bets on your phone, it has reached new heights. At the very beginning, in-play betting was only possible when making telephone bets – and you only had access to a few betting markets. Today, it’s a global phenomenon that is accessible to millions of football fans from all over the world.
The Appeal of In-Play Betting
So why is it so popular?
Real-Time Action
Well, the main attraction of in-play betting is the fact that it gives you the chance to react to events in the game as they happen. Unlike pre-match bets, where you place your bets before the game begins, in-play betting allows you to assess the action as it is unfolding – and the online football betting odds are updated all the time to reflect everything that is happening.
A Wide Range of Betting Markets
These days, in-play betting also offers a wide range of betting markets, so you can bet on different aspects of the game, such as the next goal scorer, corners, or even the total number of cards issued. This means that there’s always something to keep the excitement alive throughout the match, even if the winner is a given.
Cashing Out Options
Pretty much all decent bookmakers offer a cash-out feature for in-play bets. This means that you can settle your bet before the match is finished – either to secure yourself a profit or to mitigate any potential losses. This will give you even more control over the betting outcome and it is excellent if the match you are betting on is too close for comfort.
Impact on Football Viewing
This doesn’t simply change the way we bet on football matches, but it even changes the way we watch them – taking that experience to the next level.

More engaging: In-play betting makes football matches even more exciting than ever – and even more predictable matches are exciting if you bet on factors such as cards, next to score etc.
Tactical Insights: In-play betting also encourages you to watch the games even more closely… as you may spot changes in tactics and changes in performances that you might not have noticed otherwise.

The Challenges it Brings
Whilst there are plenty of advantages that come with in-play betting – there are some challenges that it brings as well.
Firstly, because this is all about reactions and impulses, it can lead to impulsive decisions… meaning you place bets without making a thorough analysis first. Moreover, because it is so exciting, the adrenaline of in-play betting can be addictive, so you’d certainly need to be cautious and exercise control.
It has also raised some concerns about match-fixing. After all, it’s easier to fix an in-play event, like the timing of a corner for example, than fix the entire match.
However, these challenges really are few and far between – and when considering the positive impact it has had on the game, they have very little impact in the scheme of things. Most people simply like matching the match with their phones at the ready – and see if they can get a quick win… even if their team can’t!
Conclusion
The evolution of in-play betting on football matches really has completely changed the sports betting world, giving you a more interactive and thrilling way to enjoy any game. With all sorts of betting markets, odds updated in real-time – and the chance to cash out while you’re ahead, it has become a firm fan favourite.
However, remember you always need to gamble responsibly – and make sure that you sit back, have fun and hopefully enjoy some wins if you’re lucky.
Read more:
The rise of in-play betting on football matches

TikTok has been fined 345 million euro (£296 million) by Ireland’s data watchdog following an investigation into how the social media platform processed children’s data.
The fine was imposed on TikTok Technology Limited (TTL) by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) after the probe into how certain privacy settings and features complied with obligations under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
The DPC inquiry examined age verification as part of the registration process and the processing of the personal data of children by the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform between July 31 and December 31 2020.
Tiktok said that it “respectfully disagreed” with the level of the fine imposed and stated that it related to features and settings which were in place three years ago.
The DPC adopted its final decision regarding its inquiry into TTK on September 1.
The DPC ruling described how child users progressed through the sign-up to the TikTok platform in such a manner that their accounts were set to public by default.
It said this meant that videos that were posted to child users’ account were public-by-default and comments were enabled publicly by default.
In the Family Pairing feature, the DPC said a child user’s accounts could be “paired” with an unverified non-child.
It said that that the non-child user had the power to enable direct messages for child users above the age of 16, thereby making this feature less strict for the child user.
As part of the inquiry, the DPC also examined some of TTL’s transparency obligations, including the extent of information provided to child users in relation to default settings.
The DPC has issued a reprimand as well as an order requiring TTL to bring its processing into compliance by taking specified action specified within three months and administrative fines totalling 345 million euro.
A spokesperson for TikTok said: “We respectfully disagree with the decision, particularly the level of the fine imposed.
“The DPC’s criticisms are focused on features and settings that were in place three years ago, and that we made changes to well before the investigation even began, such as setting all under 16 accounts to private by default.”
It is the latest in a series of fines handed out by the DPC in Ireland to social media giants.
Earlier this year, Facebook’s parent company Meta Ireland was fined 390 million for breaches of EU data privacy rules, one of a number of fines the DPC has imposed on the company.
In Januar,y WhatsApp was fined more than five million euro over data protection breaches and last year Instagram was fined 405 million euro over the way in which it handled teenagers’ personal data.
Earlier this year in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office fined TikTok £12.7 million because it “did not do enough” to make sure underage children were not using its platform and ensure that their data was used correctly.
Read more:
TikTok fined £296m by watchdog over how it processed children’s data

Hundreds of business professionals walked out of their offices today to demand the Government takes firm and urgent action on climate change.
Critically timed ahead of party-political season, this peaceful queue for climate and nature, ran from St Paul’s through central London. The gathering organised by Business Declares, Business Stand Up & friends, called on the Prime Minister, UK Government and all UK political parties to commit to a clear climate plan that gives long term business security.
The move comes after mounting concerns at the UK Government’s attitude towards climate change and environmental policy, and the worry felt among thousands of business professionals and leading industry stakeholders, that swift action is required.
The business professionals and campaigners joined the queue to sign an open letter to political parties urging for these asks to be included in party manifestos without delay.
Chris Skidmore MP, former Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation and head of the Net Zero Review, said: “This unprecedented call from a vast range of businesses today to step up the ambition and vision on net zero at this vital moment to create the stability and clarity we need is exactly what I called for in the Mission Zero Report. […] I fully support this Queue and its call on all political parties to ensure these policies are in their manifestos. Today demonstrates that above all business recognises that net zero and phasing out fossil fuels is an opportunity, not a cost and will create jobs and wealth, while to delay action will simply cost the UK.”
Dr Bevis Watts, CEO of Triodos Bank UK, said: “We have long acknowledged that on the current trajectory we face a climate and ecological emergency – the time to act is now. COP28 later this year must deliver an acceleration in action at a global level, prioritising the phasing out of fossil fuels and increasing financial support for a fair, low carbon future. The queue for climate and nature is a powerful representation that the business appetite for change is there. Only a truly collective effort can turn current anxiety about the future into something more hopeful.”
Paul Polman, advisor to the UK Government on COP26 and former CEO of Unilever, added: “The days of politicians being able to blame their climate timidity on business are well and truly over. Whether it’s CEOs going into Government Departments to urge them to do more, or companies signing public letters to the Prime Minister, or employees queuing over the Thames, a big part of the private sector is now shouting from the rooftops. We want a Government with courage and ambition, and we want to play our part. Together we can transform our economy and help our planet thrive – but it has to be together.”
Chris Packham, Naturalist and TV Broadcaster concluded “All over the world businesses are being burned, flooded, displaced or bankrupted by climate breakdown- lives and livelihoods are being lost en masse. It’s time for business to be bold and brave, it has the brains, the brawn and the financial backing to make a difference . But business is still people, real people who need to take real action. Smart, professional, peaceful and quintessentially British – please join those at the forefront of business who will queue to send a clear message to our politicians that we need action to address climate breakdown now” –
Read more:
Hundreds of UK businesses demonstrate against government inaction ahead of party conference season

A former special adviser to Kemi Badenoch has slammed her former boss and the government’s wider business strategy, saying the Secretary of State and her department “do not know, nor really care” about business issues.
In an extraordinary essay for Finito World, Joanna Thomas – who worked for Kemi Badenoch for a year until recently at the Department for Business and Trade – describes ministers “populating a personal address book as a hedge against election defeat” rather than engaging with serious issues.
And in what appears to be a further barb at her former boss, Thomas slams the business department’s “basic etiquette” as lacking “standards.”
It should be a basic that “there would be respect for CEO diaries, events would not be cancelled last minute after months of planning, and, if unavoidable, then followed up,” Thomas writes.
Thomas, who singles out Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt as “genuinely diligent, intelligent leaders,” also criticises a lack of “emotional intelligence” in the business department’s senior ranks.
Of her former boss and the business department, Thomas further writes: “It is not enough to keep admitting “we do not know what business is about” and “we want to hear from you”.
“It is novel, even charming at first, but the act wears thin if the fact is we really do not know, nor really care,” she adds.
A source at the business and trade department said “Joanna was relieved from her duties in the Secretary of State’s office earlier this year.
“She was hired as a parliamentary advisor based on her previous role in an MP’s office but lacked business or trade experience. It is not clear on what basis she is making these comments but we wish her well in her future endeavours.”
There is further implied criticism of Badenoch’s treatment of civil servants.
“I found hard working, impartial, bright and diligent people (at the business department) who care deeply about our country; people who need leadership and to be encouraged and allowed to think big, but also who need to be heard and valued for the expertise they bring,” the former advisor writes.
The allegations are the latest criticisms of senior ministers in government, following accusations of bullying targeted at Dominic Raab last year which ultimately cost the long-term cabinet minister his job.
While the business and trade department refused to comment on the criticisms, officials pointed to recent announcements of major investment in the automotive and manufacturing sector – such as this week’s announcement by BMW that it would remain in Oxfordshire with government support – as well as moves to protect jobs in the steel industry.
Read more:
Former Kemi Badenoch advisor says conservative Government ‘does not know, nor really care’ about business issues