on spain

It is frustrating launching a major project involving Spaniards, particularly in the Summer. Their working hours are just completely at odds with the rest of the continent.
I am dealing with some of the country’s most important bankers, insurers and automotive executives. Yet, when it is not a national or regional holiday, which it often is, many of them have “summer office hours” that run from about 8-3, making it impossible to get anything done after that hour. Even the banks that stay open “late” seem to have highly flexible working regimes. For example, last week I called a contact in one of the Spain’s biggest bank at 2pm. I called on his mobile and could hear the clinking of plates in the background. He said he was having lunch in a restaurant. I asked when it would be convenient for me to call back, to which he replied that he THOUGHT he would be done eating by 4:30! My French colleague and I stared at each other in disbelief, and jealousy. On Thursday I tried to arrange a meeting with another banker for the following morning….but no, he had decided, at the last minute, to take a four day weekend to go to the beach, and asked us to rearrange the meeting until the following Tuesday!! He then preceded to describe his envisioned weekend: the beach, relaxing, having some drinks….i work daily with industry players in Germany, Italy (yes even ITALY) France and the UK, and all of us are stuck in the office for at least 10 hours or more a day. Yet arguably the best European bank at the moment is a Spanish one…so what the hell is the secret? I confess, I am jealous, horribly, horribly jealous.