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, rumors², 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 someones work when theyre 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.
　　
　　Rumor¹ 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.