Small businesses are once again the focus of an advertising fiddle that last year conned hundreds of UK bosses out of thousands of pounds.

The UK’s Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) raised the alarm after it uncovered proof that a Spanish company had rekindled a scam which had seen it forcibly shut down a year ago.

In 2003, Barcelona-based European City Guides (ECG) was closed for a year and fined £200,000 for mail-outs giving the impression that inclusion in their directory was free.

But a clause in the small print revealed that customers were committed to pay thousands of pounds for a listing and a copy of the magazine.

Following hundreds of complaints, the company was investigated by the Catalan authorities and the UK’s Office of Fair Trading and was found to have infringed EU advertising laws.

But the FSB says the company is up and running once more, has moved to Valencia, and is operating a similar scam with the same small print trap.

Businesses signing the mail out forms are bound by a contract to be included in the following three editions of the guide, at a cost of ┚¬917 – or just over £600.

FSB international affairs chairman Tina Sommer said: “The ever increasing paper chase and a lack of dedicated administrative departments mean small employers have little time to go through all their mail with a fine tooth comb.

“Unfortunately, this makes them targets for companies like ECG.

“The FSB advises small businesses to make sure they always read the small print before they sign anything. If they are ever in any doubt they should contact the local trading standards office.”

© BusinessEurope.com 2004

HR directors in small firms are sceptical about flexible working practices despite appreciating the benefits, new research shows.

Flexitime is gaining ground in UK workplaces and it is thought that it helps improve staff morale, attract high calibre job candidates and drive down employee turnover rates.

Allowing staff to choose their own hours or giving them the chance to work from home on agreed days also helps employers hang on to workers with young families.

Half of the 300 human resource bosses responding to a survey published by business communications provider Inter-Tel today agreed with this assessment.

Just under half said the practice would boost productivity and 62% thought it would reduce stress, while an equally high proportion agreed that it would encourage workforce motivation and morale.

Yet a staggering 93% of bosses were reluctant to make the changes because they thought that allowing people to work from home would invite them to bend the rules.

Chris Harris, managing director of Inter-Tel, said: “It’s very disappointing to see that companies are still sceptical about adopting new ways of using technology because of trust issues.

“This schizophrenic attitude towards flexi working seems to stem from the fact that HR directors are unaware of how to track the way flexi workers spend their time┚¬18% [of respondents] said they had no idea.”

A quarter said it would involve too much reorganisation and 34% feared a “change in company culture”. One in five thought monitoring staff away from the office would be tricky and 10% thought it would be too costly.

© BusinessEurope.com 2004

This information has been kindly supplied by the Businesslink4london.