Categories
Tax

Changes for Spanish self-employed in 2017

The business climate is very gradually getting easier for the self-employed in Spain. In part, this is due to the Ley de Reformas Urgentes del Trabajo Autónomo (Law of Urgent Reform to Freelance Work). This is a government proposal that, if approved, would change several tax laws in Spain in 2017.

Update: the new law has been approved.

Here is a summary of the new law and other changes likely to go ahead in 2017. Personally, I believe these changes are too moderate. Spain is only listed as nº 29 in Forbes’ list of the best countries for business in 2016 – there is clearly still room for improvement. Let me know in the comments section below if you agree. And above all, happy 2017 – I hope your business prospers!

Main tax changes for freelancers in Spain in 2017

New freelancers only pay €50 social security for 1 year

  • Current: New freelancers currently pay €50 social security for the first 6 months of business, regardless of what they earn. After this, it jumps to €133 and then up to €267.
  • Proposed change: You will only pay €50 fee for the first year of self-employment in Spain.
  • Likelihood: Definite – mentioned in the new law

1% increase in social security tax for self-employed in Spain

  • Current: social security payments for freelancers who’ve been trading for more than a year or two are around €267 per month minimum (you can choose to pay more in exchange for more benefits).
  • Proposed change: social security payments will go up with price inflation to €269.
  • Likelihood: highly likely

Social security payments take into account when you signed up/off

  • Current: regardless of whether you sign up or sign off as self-employed in the middle or end of the month, you still have to pay social security for the full month.
  • Possible change: you will only have to pay social security as of the day you signed up or off rather than the full month.
  • Likelihood: definite – mentioned in the new law

Progressive social security payments for the self-employed

  • Current: social security payments for Spanish freelancers are controversially high (€267/month as standard)
  • Possible change: social security payments for autónomos are in line with earnings. Those earning below minimum wage will be officially cleared of the obligation to pay anything.
  • Likelihood: a possibility. Many parties advocated for this in Spain’s general elections in 2016. Despite not having planned for this change, the current government is facing increasing pressure from Spain’s growing quotient of autónomos.

Freelancers in Spain can claim vehicle costs and water/electricity bills

  • Current: freelancers cannot claim vehicle costs and water/electricity bills as costs
  • Possible change: where there is legitimate justification for this, freelancers will be able to claim vehicle costs and up to 20% of their gas and electricity bills as business costs.
  • Likelihood: definite – mentioned in the new law

More support for maternity leave

  • Current: freelancers taking maternity leave must organise cover to receive handouts
  • Possible change: freelancers on maternity leave will be eligible for handouts, regardless of whether they have organised cover or not.
  • Likelihood: definite – mentioned in the new law

Freelancers who pay social security late will also have smaller sanctions.

Tax changes for other business models

As well as standard self-employed models, it’s likely that there will be some changes for large businesses paying Societies tax and anyone who currently pays under the “modules” system, which is gradually being phased out. Some reductions are also likely to be made to social security payments for freelancers who form societies.

Tax aside, minimum salaries will go up to €707.60 and data protection laws will become more stringent.

As well as the official bulletin, I used InfoAutonomos and El Economista to research this article.

Categories
Self-employed in Barcelona

Interview with a local business: Coco Coffice coworking café Barcelona

What does it take to start a successful business in Barcelona? We ask coworking café Coco Coffice. This post is not sponsored (unless you count free cake :)).

Some of the most successful businesses I’ve known in Barcelona are importers of ideas – they take a concept that’s better known elsewhere and introduce it into the local climate.

Coco Coffice in Poble Sec is a strikingly successful example of this. Their business model -a café to work in Barcelona, where you can take your laptop and pay by the hours you stay there, not by consumption – is fairly novel here.

With a relaxed, calm atmosphere, speedy WiFi connexion, dedicated meeting room at the back, new people to connect with and plenty of delicious cake, Coco Coffice is a great spot for any freelancers looking for somewhere to take their laptop to a café and do some work!

Coco Coffice coworking café in Barcelona: a successful business and a great café with WiFi

I interviewed Axel and Carole, the couple behind Coco Coffice coworking café, to ask about their experience of setting up a business in Barcelona. Read on!

  1. Setting up a business in Barcelona. How was it?
    It all happened quite quickly. We had the idea in the beginning of 2016, and then a month or so later we’d already found somewhere to set up in business in Poble Sec. The first summer was quite slow as we were still building our reputation  (also, not many people are looking to take their laptop to a café with WiFi and get work done in summer!) – but then business picked up and things are now going very well.
    Both of us had already worked as self-employed in Spain for over ten years, so we were quite used to running a business here.
  2. Did anything surprise you?
    How long it took for people to get their heads around the concept of a coworking café. We had to do a lot of explaining!
  3. The boring bit: how do you pay your tax? How did you obtain licences for starting business activity, doing reforms, selling food and drink, etc.?
    The building company who reformed the venue for us organised the licences. We also have an accountant who takes care of the tax side of things. She’s really strict and keeps us in line!
  4. What’s starting a business in Barcelona like?
    Working freelance in Barcelona is quite expensive, but there are tonnes of opportunities in the city. It’s becoming quite a hotspot for digital nomads. People working in cafés with WiFi in Barcelona are not an uncommon sight these days! Things are also picking up again now after the crisis.
  5. What made you successful?
    We’re constantly adapting to what customers want. When we started, we had no idea which aspects of our business would be the most successful and some of this was quite surprising. Listening to what people ask for and finding a way to offer this is a great way to stay in business.
  6. What advice would you give to someone starting up a business in Barcelona?
    Invest a lot of energy into making contacts. Events like MeetUps are great for connecting with people and an excellent source of information. Also, you need to be patient. We tend to expect everything to happen instantly, but sometimes things can take a while to kick off.

On top of Carole and Axel’s recommendations, I’d add that it was very obvious that the Coco Coffice have really managed to create a sense of community. This isn’t just a café with WiFi in Barcelona; it’s also somewhere freelancers can meet and share ideas and projects. As they said “we’ve adopted a lot of the people who come here into our own network”. As much as the coffee and cake, I’m sure this will keep them in business. I wish them every success in the future.

Does your business have a story to tell? If you think the freelancers, self-employed and owner/managers who read this blog would be interested, do get in touch.

Images contributed by Coco Coffice coworking café.

Categories
Tax

The cost of going freelance in Spain

As well as “how much business will I get?”, the big “unknown” for anyone going self-employed in Spain is: “how much it will cost to go freelance?”. Here’s a diagram to help you work it out.

Freelance in Spain – costs and taxes

How this works:

  • VAT: (aka “IVA” – stands for Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido) There are various rules for different industries. You act as tax collecter for the government and add 21% max on to what you earn, which you are responsible for declaring. Not applicable for non-EU based clients.
    • See this article for info on paying VAT when trading digital services in Europe.
  • IRPF: The IRPF (Spanish income tax) is complex – more info for anyone self-employed in Spain here.
  • Social security: Depends on how long you’ve been self-employed. Goes up to just below €300.
For example…

Here’s an example that might help. Pepe is a freelancer setting up business in Spain. He works for Spanish companies, and his total income with all taxes included is €2420 per month. He’s in the first six months of business.

  • 2420€ is the price including VAT – 121% of the total. The base amount (before VAT) is:
  • Then deduct 7% IRPF:
    • 2000/100 * 93 = €1860 (+€140 handed in by companies he works for)
  • Then deduct €50 social security…

… Pepe keeps €1810. 80% of what he started with.

In the third year of business, social security rises to 275€ (unless Pepe is a woman under 35 or a man under 30). His IRPF will increase to 15%, leaving him with around 60-50% of his original earnings. So the cost of starting a company in Spain is now 40-50% of Pepe’s earnings.

Too much? Many think so. Let me know your opinion below.

This just covers the most common freelance/business models. Some industries – such as agriculture and fishing – are charged different rates. A friend who works as a therapist in Barcelona is also exempt from IVA.

I hope this helps you to evaluate the cost of going freelance in Spain. If you’re thinking about setting up business, you might also like to take a look at my guide to signing up as self employed.

Categories
Self-employed in Barcelona

SMBs of Barcelona 2016

Being self-employed or starting up a business wasn’t easy in Spain in 2016. That’s why it’s more important than ever to celebrate start-ups, small businesses and freelancers who, despite the odds, have made a success of the year.

In order to do so, here are the SMB of Barcelona awards. This contains a list of some of the top freelancers/start-ups in Barcelona who’ve caught my eye over the last year. A variety of sectors is represented. Although all have a strong online presence, the list is not restricted to e-commerce. None of the entries are sponspored.

Interested in applying for the SMB of Barcelona 2017 awards?  Send an email to selfemployedinspain[at]gmail.com. You must be either a freelancer or a small business and have opened in the last five years.

The top freelancers/start-ups in Barcelona 2016

3dclick

Graduates of Barcelona’s Síty startup incubation programme, 3dclick provides seriously cool 3d animations you can use to make your powerpoint presentations stand out . The first 3 months of subscription are free. 3dclick launched in 2016 and by all appearances are well on their way to a successful 2017.

ClinicPoint

This start-up managed to source 800,000€ in their last call for funding, making them the largest of the list. ClinicPoint is an online healthcare portal that was launched in 2012. More or less anyone can find reasonably-priced private healthcare here. With the boom of private healthcare during Spain’s economic crisis, ClinicPoint’s success shows us that financial downturn doesn’t necessarily have to be bad for business.

Alternativas Económicas

This Spanish-language alternative newspaper was originally founded by journalists from large newspapers looking for somewhere to publish the news they wasn’t space to cover elsewhere. It’s been showcasing carefully researched and produced news pieces on topics such as austerity, banking and house prices for four years now, and will hope it will continue for many more!

Optymistic

A relevant name for the start of the new year! Optymistic is Núria and Jaume, two illustration lovers who’ve set up a portal to sell illustrated smartphone and iPad covers, tote bags, motorbike helmets and other accessories. With their (Catalan-language) blog providing quirky comments on day-to-day life and a list of participating illustrators, this is definitely a product with a story.

Smaze

The newest on our list, Smaze is our “one to watch” in 2017. Smaze is a subscriptions management service being developed in Barcelona that helps you manage and cancel subscriptions and keep track of monthly outgoings you might even have forgotten about. In the age of one-click digital signups, Smaze definitely fulfills a need!

Ontranslation

Translation work is nothing new, and there are many freelance translators in Barcelona out there. What is new is the personal touch Ontranslation lends to multi-language translation projects, which they can organise from start to finish. As they say, “With a pleasant team, the work comes out better”. They’ll even invite you to breakfast to chat about their work! (Maybe they will invite me :)). Another business that survived the crisis, Ontranslation was founded in 2012 and has gone from strength to strength.

Categories
Tax

The IRPF (Spain’s Income Tax) for freelancers

Eixample Dreta. Forget street name.

The IRPF (“Impuesto sobre la Renta de Personas Físicas“) is an earnings tax for all “physical people” (i.e. not companies, associations or other entities). It is the equivalent of income tax in Spain. If you freelance, the rules are particularly complicated. Some help is below.

If you’re not self-employed, check out my article on Spanish income tax for employees.

IRPF for freelancers

1. Calculating IRPF

To calculate IRPF, Spain’s income tax law differentiates between the Estimación Directa and Estimación Objectiva. The majority of businesses are in the Estimación Directa – this is definitely the default when you sign up at the Hacienda (Inland Revenue). The Estimación Objectiva (also called the “modular system”) only applies to a few kinds of business and is now being phased out. So if you don’t know, you are probably Estimación Directa.

For businesses in the Estimación Directa, IRPF is a percentage of your profits. Businesses in the “Estimación Objectiva” pay IRPF according to standard industry profits.

2. How much IRPF do you pay? How do you pay it?

An important question is whether you will be doing “professional” or “business” activity (“actividades “profesionales” or “empresariales”). “Professionals” include knowledge workers who generally have specialist training or qualifications -lawyers, translators, teachers, consultants. Business activities are more general -commerce, hospitality, etc. They are very similar, so if you’re not sure which type of service you offer, check which Epigrafe IAE you were given when you signed up with the Hacienda.

  • All categories have to advance 20% of their profits (incomings less costs) in IRPF. You do this every three months at the end of the trimestre using the “Modelo 130” form.
  • If you offer professional, forestry or agricultural services, your clients must also pay IRPF for you (known as “practicando retenciones”).
    • When you charge your clients, you deduce IRPF from the final bill (see my article on how to write an invoice for clients).
    • In your first couple of years as a self-employed person, you bill 7%. From then on, it’s 15% (if you’re offering forestry or agricultural services, this will be less).
  • If in the previous year clients paid IRPF “retenciones” on more than 70% of your earnings you do not have also to collect the original 20%.

Examples

Pedro produces and sells natural beard care products. He deducts expenses from total income and pays in 20% of the remainder to the government (using Modelo 130).
Sara has been a translator for several years. Over 70% of her clients pay in IRPF for her. So she does not collect herself, but includes 15% IRPF in her invoices.
Ling is also a translator. However, as her clients are mostly from abroad, they do not pay IRPF. So she pays in 20% of her earnings each quarter using Modelo 130. Her single Spanish client also collects and pays in IRPF on the work she does with them. She includes this when she bills them.

It’s important to note that all of these payments are considered advances. In May/June, you will have to declare all of your earnings in the dreaded annual “Declaración de la Renta” (modelo 100). The government will take into account how much you earn, and how much IRPF you’ve paid in over the last year, as well as other variables (…are you a single parent? under 25?), and will decide on a suitable portion to send back to you.

What do you think about IRPF? Share your experiences in the comments section below.

Next: forms you may have to fill in as self-employed in Spain.

Categories
Business culture in Spain

Spanish businesses forced to buy employees Christmas hampers

The lote de navidad (Christmas hamper) is a popular tradition in Spain. A typical hamper contains delicacies such as wine, cava, jamón, pâté, truffles and nougat. Christmas hampers are typical of “old school” companies, but more modern businesses tend not to offer them, opting for a lower-cost option such as a bottle of wine and a company Christmas dinner instead.

Supreme Court rules: Christmas hampers are on

Everyone loves a Christmas hamper, but be careful if you do decide to offer one to your employees or business partners this year. A recent sentence by the Supreme Court ruled that companies who’ve traditionally bought Christmas Hampers for their employees must continue to do so.

This happened after a company stopped giving out Christmas hampers after merging with another that didn’t have this tradition. The Supreme Court ruled that receiving the hampers was an acquired right. As such, employees should continue to receive them.

Father Christmas’ fiscal obligations in Spain are still under investigation.

Source: El Diario

Categories
Business culture in Spain Self-employed in Barcelona

Is AirBnB legal in Spain? The battle for Barcelona continues

If you’re working freelance in Spain, you might have thought about renting out a room (as opposed to your whole flat) on an electronic platform like AirBnB in order to pick up some extra earnings. Lots of people do so, but is this actually legal?

In Catalonia, this issue is particularly important. As a response, the Catalan Department of Tourism recently put forwards a draft version of new regulation for renting rooms to tourists. This regulation aims to recognise new technology and allow extra earnings, but avoid upsetting the delicate ecosystem of a city that already experiences mass tourism.

The new model would give legal status to rooms rented out to tourists using AirBnB and similar.

AirBnB in Catalonia: conditions for legal rentals

The new classification is called “vivienda de uso turístico cedido por habitaciones” (tourist dwelling rented by rooms). There would be various business conditions property owners in this category would have to fulfill.

  • Live in the property on a permanent basis
  • Not let rooms out for more than 4 months per year, or for more than 31 days at a time.
  • Rent a maximum of 2 rooms per flat, with 5 people in each.
  • Register with local government/in the Tourist Register of Catalonia.
    • Local authorities could say “no” if they feel there are already too many tourist dwellings in the area.
  • Also, remember that the majority of rental contracts won’t allow subletting.

When I called the local town council, they couldn’t provide me with exact information on how this business model would be taxed. However, I’d assume it would be similar to other tourism business models. In tourist apartments, for example, you pay VAT at a reduced rate of 10% and declare IRPF (income tax) in the annual Declaración de la Renta. Finally, you pay a small (less than 1€ for 7 days) tourist tax per guest.

Current: renting out rooms by AirBnB is “not legal”

In the meantime, I was told by the local town council that renting out rooms via online tourism platforms is “not legal”. Despite this, a quick search for “Barrio Gótico Barcelona” on AirBnB shows over 300 people renting out their spare rooms.

I do not dispute local government’s intentions. Complaints that the area is over-saturated by tourism are common, so it seems that some way of regulating AirBnB was in high demand. Delegating the decision to the most local level possible makes sense, as tourism penetration levels change from town to town.

Local government is up against a bigger issue

However, local government is up against a bigger issue. Forcing citizens to declare activity with official bodies brings them up against the bureaucracy of the likes of the Hacienda. This is likely to either push people to act illegally or not take advantage of opportunities to create business in Spain.

I also hope they’ll make their minds up soon – limbo is not good for the local business climate. Currently, the end of 2016/beginning of 2017 seems to be the earliest possible date for making the new regulation official. You can follow the Catalan government’s official newspaper for more information.

Categories
Self-employed in Barcelona

Barcelona’s coworking phenomenon

This is from my Mum & Dad's garden in the UK.

Barcelona is never a city to miss out on a trend. We’ve seen the rise of the “gintonic”, cupcakes and swing dance, and we can now add coworking spaces to the list. Coworking spaces, or “los coworking” as they’re known here, are pretty logical given that the amount of self-employed workers taking on bits and bobs here and there has risen with the crisis. It even looks like it might be part of a global trend.

Hiring a coworking space has various benefits. It gets you out of the house and into a new environment, puts you in touch with new people and is easier to declare on your tax returns than your place of residence. So without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the hottest coworking spots in Barcelona.

Top spots for coworking in Barcelona

The Almogàvers Business Factory is run by Barcelona Activa. It’s designed to be a “business incubator” – a place where new businesses can be nurtured and grow in a like-minded environment. As well as plenty of business services, you’ll have access to complementary services like help writing a business plan. It’s not free, but I believe spaces are heavily subsidised. To get one, you have to apply to empresa (at) barcelonactiva (dot) cat.

One of the coworking spaces that’s been hitting my Facebook feed constantly for the last couple of months is Betahaus Barcelona. Sold as the rather elitist-sounding “New coworking space for the social class”, full information has yet to be released on their website but I believe spaces are fairly cheap – around €80 per month (can that be right?). Betahaus seems to filter the stream of demand whipped up by their impressive marketing campaigns by how cool you are rather than what’s in your wallet: you’ll have to fit in with the “Rolling Beta Family” to be considered here.

Website Coworking Spain is a directory of more coworking spaces in Barcelona than you could shake a stick at. Seriously – I counted to 134 and then got bored. It’ll give you a good general market guide as well – as you can see, prices normally range from €50 – €300 per month, with €120 a seemingly happy medium.

Another interesting address is Comunidad Coworking, who, in addition to providing coworking spaces, offer information about “coworking culture” and networking events in Barcelona.

Text and photos by Penelope

Categories
Self-employed in Barcelona

Startups in Barcelona

The "Univers" school, Gràcia.

Looking to find freelance work or create a startup in Barcelona?

Cities are ecosystems. And inside each ecosystem, birds of a feather tend to flock together. Meaning that, surprisingly, Barcelona has a far stronger tech presence than lots of people might realise. I can name several contacts who’ve launched themselves into the world of startups in Barcelona, either as employees or founding members. And – this may come as some of a surprise – the city is also a thriving hub for the tech industry.

Where the startups in Barcelona are hiding

Most of these businesses are concentrated into two areas. To the south of the city and near the beach, the “Zone 22@” contains Barcelona Activa, Almogàvers Business Factory and a host of startups and tech businesses. And to the north, near the Ferrocarril stop “Sant Joan” is a large industrial park which hosts a variety of established businesses, like HP, as well as new startups.

These areas have suffered in recent crisis years, with offices closing and companies hard-pushed to fund current staff. But, perhaps because the country’s hit hard times, I’ve also seen a ton of new startups aiming to attract overseas business in the last couple of months. According to El Pais, “los startups” are actually Spain’s way to a brighter future. These tend to focus on exporting overseas, and are often small companies looking for people who want to take on piecemeal projects rather than full-time staff (in fact, Spain has one of the highest rates of part-time work in Europe). This makes them a great bet for freelancers with experience of a particular culture looking to contract their services.

Start-ups in Barcelona

Here’s a couple of my favourite startups in the area:

  • Grupo Intercom – Not a startup exactly, this incubator nurtures over fifty internet businesses, the vast majority of which are based around the same model. Heard of Infojobs, Bodas.net, Softonic, EMagister, EnAlquiler or Careesma? These have all done their time here.
  • Nubelo – Mentioned elsewhere as a good place to find work, Nubelo has won awards and is an excellently-designed website.
  • LetsBonus/Groupalia/Atrapalo – Offer/discount websites. I’m a bit addicted to these 🙂
  • EasyPromos – Facebook app best known for it’s free version, which contains all you need to set up Facebook competitions.
  • Trovit – Be it a new house, job or car, you can find it all here.

If it’s a full-time job you’re looking for, large international techcompanies like HP and VistaPrint also flock to Barcelona for the cheap wages and multilingual staff.

I hope I’ve managed to convince you that Barcelona is the Silicon Valley of Spain; if you had any doubts you can also find a great “Spain startup map” here!

Text and photos by Penelope

Categories
Business culture in Spain

Spanish business culture – theory vs reality

There are lots of theories designed to measure and describe business cultures. One of them is Geert Hofstede’s cultural compass. This rates countries based on 6 different attributes, and is designed to explain what a culture is like. But how accurate is it? How much does it really tell us about day-to-day dealings? Here I’ve looked at the values the Geert Hofstede model has ascribed to Spain, and evaluated them based on my own experience of Spanish business culture.

Business culture in Spain – Hofstede’s cultural compass

Power distance

Geert Hofstede scores Spain highly (57) on this aspect. This means that people do not generally question authority, and accept their place in hierarchy.

I don’t know if I agree. For one, what about the indignados movement in Spain? How does this apply to Spanish business culture? For better or for worse, in large cities in Spain North American business models are just as fashionable as cupcakes, swing dance and gintonics. In Barcelona, start-ups and playing ping-pong with your boss is increasingly the norm. This means a more equal power balance is in demand from the younger generation. Some might say that this is superficial. Offices in Spain today will all describe themselves as having a flat hierarchy to attract talent, but once you’ve got the job you’re still expected to follow suit. But surely something similar is true of most places?

Individualism

In summary, Geert Hofstede says that Spain is Collectivist compared to other European countries, but Individualist compared to most of the rest of the world. The means that Spanish people can easily get on with people who are not from Europe, but might see other Europeans as “aggressive and blunt”. In terms of Spanish business culture, it also means that people are good at working together.

The idea of Spaniards describing other Europeans as “agressive and blunt” is surprising to me. Wherever the truth of the matter lies, I frequently hear Spaniards describing themselves as “muy directos”. In my experience, the comment about teamwork in Spanish business culture is accurate. I find Spanish culture to be very inclusive – one of the lovely things about when I worked in summer schools was how tolerant most of the children were of each other. The same applies to business – normally, even the more eclectic members of the office will be tolerated and included.

Masculinity

Spain scores 42 here, making it a “feminine” country. According to Hofstefe, consensus and getting along are valued, whereas competitiveness is not. Hofstede comments that in Spain “children are educated in search of harmony”. In Spanish business culture, managers like to solicit input from their reports, and politicians seek “participation of all the minorities”.

There are many aspects of this sentence which do not match up to my experience. Although Spanish children I’ve known have often been inclusive, many people are not afraid to speak their minds. I definitely disagree that managers like to consult subordinates – this has not been true in my experience of Spanish business culture. In terms of politics, I’d also point out that the Spanish government includes the autonomous regions less than, for example, the UK includes Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. In terms of business culture in Spain, you shouldn’t feel any need to give special attention to caring and consensus. That said, wherever you work it’s wise to care for your clients.

Uncertainty avoidance

Hofstede rates Spain very highly (86) for uncertainty avoidance. He comments that “People like to have rules for everything… There is great concern for changing, ambiguous and undefined situations”. He points to a survey where 75% of young people in Spain v 17% of young people in the USA expressed interest in working in the civil service as evidence (the civil service being highly stable).

I think Hofstede’s example here is unfair. In the worst of Spain’s crisis, over 50% of young people were unemployed. In such circumstances, it’s natural that a “job for life” would sound attractive to most people. That said, the idea that “People like to have rules for everything” rings true – see my section on tax in Spain for the self-employed if you need more convincing about this aspect of business culture in Spain! I would also agree with the point about ambiguous and undefined situations. In a business context, I note that people are more likely to stick to established models than take risks. In terms of Spanish business culture, you might want to keep some of your more original ideas to yourself until you’ve tested them. Or (as I do :)) accept people’s surprise, and build a name for yourself as an innovator.

Long term orientation

Spain scores 48 here – they are almost average. Despite this, Hofstede asserts that the Spanish live in the present: “Spain is the country that has given the meaning of ‘fiesta’ to the world”.

Ok, can we lose the “fiesta” label already please? It’s just not true in certain parts of Spain. However, I’d agree with the overall sentiment. Spanish businesses I know look to combine long-term strategies with ways to get by in the short-term. I have sometimes found the balance swings a bit too far to “getting by”. So helping define a long-term vision has been a way I can add value.

Indulgence

Spain scores relatively low here (44), meaning that according to Hofstede people do not indulge. This also makes people have a “tendency to cynicism and pessimism”. It means that people put work emphasis on work than free time and do not indulge themselves.

What happened to giving the meaning of “fiesta” to the world? There are so many great ways to indulge in Spain – mojitos, open-air concerts, tapas – how could you resist? In terms of Spain’s business culture, it’s one of the few countries I know where staying for a coffee after lunch instead of running to a meeting is an advantage (it allows you to network). Work-life balance is also, in my experience, valued more highly here than elsewhere. I’d also disagree with the idea that Spaniards are cynical and pessimistic, both in Spanish business culture and personally.

Spanish business culture – conclusion

Geert Hofstede’s models might reflect the country average, but they don’t describe my experience. As much as this is conditioned by the business culture of Spain, it is even more conditioned by the sector and circles I move in. I mix mostly with modern, liberal Spaniards, interested in trends and technology. Countries are large and complex. You really can’t generalise.

Also, while I don’t fit with all the values in Spanish business culture, this doesn’t put me at a disadvantage. Actually, a fresh perspective has often allowed me to add value and come up with solutions no-one else thought of. In order to do this, it’s important to be able to understand – and tolerate – other points of view.