Recent Developments Regarding the Belgian “Labour Deal”

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Shortly before Summer, the Belgian government finally reached a final governmental agreement on 17 June 2022, on the so-called “labour deal” that was announced mid-February. This governmental agreement follows the political agreement reached in February, the (undisclosed) pre-draft bill and the subsequent advice of the National Labour Council of 17 May 2022.

The much-discussed labour deal aims at increasing the employment rate on the labour market to 80% by 2030, on the one hand, and improving employees’ work-life balance, on the other hand, by introducing a series of measures relating to:

(i) flexibility and the improvement of work-life balance 2
(ii) training of employees 4
(iii) dynamic labour market 5
(iv) platform work and e-commerce 6

The main measures are summarised in this briefing.

1. FLEXIBILITY AND IMPROVEMENT OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Four days-work week Probably most appealing to many, is the possibility for employees to perform a fulltime work schedule in four instead of five days. A four days-work week would allow employees to perform
longer working hours (up to 9.5 hours per day, if this is provided in the company work rules, or up to 10 hours
per day if a company-level collective bargaining agreement is reached), with one additional day off per week in
return. A similar initiative is being envisaged in the United Kingdom, with a trial period currently ongoing which
should help analysing how employees will respond to having an extra day off per week.

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