One third of workers in Belgium now work from home at least one day a week, with the number rising to as high as 42% in Brussels.
The figure has almost doubled since the pandemic, and companies are finding it increasingly difficult to strike a balance between keeping their employees happy and retaining team spirit.
For tens of thousands of employees of major American companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook and even Zoom, the end of the summer was marked by a compulsory return to the office. But Alexandre Judes, an economist at Indeed, confirmed to Le Soir that "we are not seeing a drop in the number of job ads mentioning teleworking."
"In Europe, there are major variations between countries, such as France, where 8% of postings mention teleworking, compared with 14% in Germany. But here too, the figures have remained stable over the past year, and are still three to four times higher than before Covid. So the revolution is still underway."
Hybrid working 'much more attractive'
In Belgium too, teleworking is anything but on the way out. A study published by the Belgian statistical office Statbel at the end of September showed that 33.9% of Belgians will have teleworked at least one day a week in 2023. While just 3% of employees work permanently from home, the majority of teleworkers still benefit today from two or three days of teleworking.
"There has been a media effect on 100% teleworking, which we experienced during lockdown. A number of companies were very proactive and made teleworking a strong argument, highlighting the huge productivity gains and the possibility of saving on office property," Judes continued. "However, there has been a kind of back-pedalling. Most companies are realising that the hybrid model is much more attractive."
Indeed, a survey carried out by Le Soir among the country's largest employers, including BNP Paribas Fortis, Belfius, Engie, Pfizer, the Economy Ministry and around a dozen SMEs, shows that hybrid teleworking seems to be taking root more than ever in the day-to-day lives of employees and civil servants whose job requires them to stay at home part of the time.
Flexibility in the workplace
Today, the main challenge for employers is to convince their employees to return to the office and many companies are using flexible schemes in order to achieve this. For instance, BNP Paribas Fortis has introduced the Smart Working system, in which employees alternate between two and three days in the office week by week.
This flexible system is more difficult to introduce in SMEs, however. "Unfortunately, we had to require employees to return 60% on a structural basis via employment contracts," Pierre Matelart told Le Soir. Matelart works as Head of Human Resources at EVS, a Liège-based company specialising in the manufacture of video servers. "Without this, we would be seeing 40% attendance per month."
Other companies have noticed that allowing employees to telework causes issues in terms of team cohesion and internal communication. To work well together, employees need to have the opportunity to see each other, especially upon first joining.
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While some employers have force employees back into the office via contracts, the majority agree that it is more important to create an environment that makes people want to be in the office. "If everyone is in meetings all day behind their own computer, many will prefer to stay at home," confirms SD Worx consultant, Katleen Jacobs. "In practice, it is important to see what works best for each team."
In some cases, there is no longer enough office space or car parking for companies which have grown in recent years. "Our offices have been designed for variable and lower occupancy, estimated at around 70% of staff," Laurent Simonart from pharmaceutical company UCB told Le Soir. Indeed, Proximus sold its towers at Brussels North Station to reduce office space, as employees now only come in for "teamwork."
In a job market where the war for the best talent is fierce, teleworking has also become a key argument for recruiters. "Without teleworking, an employer risks becoming unattractive," Jacobs concludes. "Offering flexible working hours and not forcing a worker to travel to the office every day can really make a difference."
