Brussels companies are best in Belgium for work-from-home policies

Brussels leads the way in Belgium when it comes to work-from-home opportunities for workers, with 97% of companies offering such a policy, new research suggests.

Despite the pandemic being on the wane, the trend of working from home continues in Brussels, Bruzz reports.

Almost all companies in Brussels offer the possibility to do work from home, according to figures from HR services company Acerta and research firm Indiville.

Some 200 managers were surveyed for the biennial study, and while work-from-home opportunities exist at 97% of Brussels companies, the numbers are 76% for Flanders and 72% for Wallonia – high, but still significantly lower than that of the Belgian capital.

Belgians today work from home an average of one or two days a week.

More than half of the companies surveyed say the current ratio will remain the same in the coming years, while a quarter want to see their employees back in the office more often.

Working from home has become the norm in Belgium in recent years, reflecting an increasing trust employers have in their staff: 88% now have confidence in employees working from home, compared to less than 70% in 2021.

While the pandemic encouraged - and even necessitated - working from home, the subsequent energy crisis caused just the opposite.

Companies noticed that employees adjusted their routines to save costs. A quarter of employees come to the office more often to save on energy at home and 22% choose a mode of transport other than their (own) car to save on fuel. At one in 10 companies, people now shower more often at work rather than home.

The smooth office-home working relationship will be a relief for most employees, but there is also a downside, warns legal expert at Acerta Ellen Van Grunderbeek.

“People can become isolated at home, detached from their employer, their team and colleagues,” Van Grunderbeek says.

“And likewise, people may feel they always have to be available and thus cannot sufficiently disconnect from work.”

According to Van Grunderbeek, it is important that colleagues continue to feel sufficiently engaged while working at home.