Radio pasillo — The Office Grapevine

Radio pasillo, and how Spanish offices handle rumors

Every Spanish office has a radio pasillo, and small ones have the loudest. In a firm of nine people, a canceled meeting, an early departure or a closed door is noticed by everyone by lunchtime, and the habit of discussing it over coffee is deeply ingrained. Spanish workplace culture is sociable and talkative, and gossip, el cotilleo, is part of how colleagues bond, which is why Íñigo cheerfully calls himself the office cotilla. There are also unwritten rules about it, and Carmen states most of them. Distinguish what you know de buena tinta from what you know de oídas. Do not spread a rumor that could hurt someone, least of all about the boss's private life; the canceled meetings could be a doctor, a family matter, a hundred things. Do not let a rumor become a reason to stop talking to each other. And if it matters, ask the person directly, together and discreetly, rather than speculating in the corridor. The specific rumor reflects something real in the Spanish consultancy market. Large firms, some multinational, some Spanish groups based in Madrid or Barcelona, regularly buy small specialist consultancies for their client lists, their public-sector contracts and their expertise. For staff, an acquisition can bring stability or a restructuring, and the word reestructuración carries real fear in Spain, where collective dismissals, ERE, have been a feature of every economic downturn. Íñigo's worry that long-serving staff go first is a common one. The best practical advice is the one Alex arrives at: if something reliable is known, it should be said openly, in the room, and not in the corridor. Small offices survive rumors when they keep talking to each other.