Grapevine

　　The process through which information gets spread unofficially throughout the company. Can be word of mouth, email, or even a hand-written piece of paper. In most companies, news, rumors¹, gossip and information can spread to hundreds or thousands of employees in a very short time.

　　Brown-nosing / kissing up / sucking up

　　Being overly friendly with the boss, or upper management, or anybody with some power or control, with the intent of getting favors from them, such as promotions³, raises, bonuses, etc. In many cases, it is possible that there are other employees who merit these advantages more than the brown-noser.

　　Back-biting

　　Malicious⁴ talk that undermines someone’s reputation or unfairly criticizes someone’s work when they’re not around.

　　Gossip

　　Loose talk to disclose something, often of questionable⁵ veracity⁶, that is better kept to oneself. Can involve talking about an individual, a group, company issues. Can be business-related or personal.

　　Rumors

　　Similar to gossip, but usually more based on some factual element or half-truth.

　　Rumor² mongering

　　Spreading a rumor with malicious intent.

　　Peer-to-peer

　　Gossip, rumors, information-spreading, etc. that takes place among employees of the same rank.

　　Cliques⁷

　　Group of employees who stick together bound by common beliefs, interests, and/or personalities⁸. They are usually resistant⁹ to allowing outsiders in who they feel are different from them.

　　Kiss a lot of frogs

　　Colloquial¹⁰ term used to describe an upwardly ambitious and aggressive person who wants to climb the ladder by having questionable relationships.

　　Scandal

　　Involves something damaging to the company or staff that was previously¹¹ hidden and comes to light.

　　像葡萄藤般传播的传闻/小道消息

　　信息在公司内迅速非正式传播的过程。这些信息可以通过口头、电子邮件、甚至是文字形式传播。在很多公司里，新闻、谣言、闲言碎语，还有各种信息可以在很短的时间内传到几百或几千个职员的耳朵里。

　　拍马屁

　　与老板、上层管理人员或任何握有权力的人过于亲近，为了讨好他们以获得类似于提拔或多分红利之类的好 处。可是，在很多情况下，其他的员工比这些拍马屁者更 有可能获得这些好处。

　　诽谤

　　在背后诋毁别人声誉或对别人的工作做出不公正的批评。

　　闲言碎语

　　对不便于传出的事情的闲谈，往往有失客观性。谈论的对象可以是个人，一个集体，或者是公司事务。内容可以是与工作有关或者是与私人有关。

　　传言

　　与闲言碎语相近，但比较起来更多是建立在一些事实或半事实的基础上。

　　散布谣言

　　不怀好意地散播谣言。

　　同事之间

　　那些发生在同事之间的闲言碎语、谣言、信息等的传播。

　　小集团

　　一组员工因共同的信仰、兴趣和/或性格而结集在一起。他们通常排斥那些与他们格格不入的外人的加入。

　　搞特殊关系

　　俗语，用于形容那些想通过不正当关系向上爬的野心十足的人。

　　公众丑闻

　　那些先前被隐瞒的有损于公司或员工的秘密后来被暴光。