There are some differences in the way Spain does business that you can see from the moment you step foot here. For one, they are not ones for speed. There is no place to go get some food within 10 minutes, not even McDonalds here. There is just more of a laid-back attitude in general throughout Spain. This can be seen through siestas and through vacation time here. Every day, there is hardly anything open from about 2-4 pm and it is in order to give everyone a nap at that point in the day. It took a lot of getting used to when first getting here, because I am so used to normal business hours in America being 8-5 at the least. There have been a couple of instances here where you can see businesses with signs out front saying they are on vacation. The law here states that every employee must get 1 month off during the year. It is hard to imagine as an American, but I have seen 2 restaurants that are closed due to giving everyone that works there 3 weeks off. There is also a very high level of flexibility in schedule, due to the labor laws that are present in Spain. It is not uncommon to request a week off, and it is not a big deal at all. It sounds like a great deal, as long as you have the mindset of the Spaniards: work to live instead of live to work.
Center for International Business Studies Blog