Belgium has been called on by Flemish employers' organisation Voka to drop the obligation on teleworking which has been in place for more than two months.
As part of the current Covid-19 restrictions, working from home is compulsory: people can work from the office for a maximum of one day a week, while no more than one-fifth of employees can be present at once. Voka is calling for this measure to be abolished, and for the government to replace it with a "teleworking recommendation."
"Belgium has the strictest homeworking obligation in Europe. It is time to be more flexible with telework," Voka chief executive Hans Maertens stated. The measure is expected to remain in place until the end of April.
He explained that replacing this mandate with a telework recommendation would mean working from home remains possible, but puts that responsibility with the companies.
According to Maertens, the fact that the peak of infections has now passed and the pressure on hospitals is decreasing should make the lifting of this rule possible.
He added that the fact that several other countries, including The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, have relaxed or dropped this obligation, and the fact that it disturbs cooperation and has a negative impact on employers and employees in the long run should also count towards Belgium's decision.
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Finally, he stressed long-term working from home has a detrimental impact on the development of new ideas and deals. "Digital meetings are useful, but can never fully replace a physical meeting. When the stakes are high, people want to be able to look each other in the eye before closing a deal."
'Caution remains necessary'
At the time of the rule's introduction, Voka already argued against the measure, stating the obligation would cause economic and, above all, mental damage while being an extra administrative burden for businesses.
However, a report from the KU Leuven publish in mid-January showed that working people became infected with the coronavirus almost twice as often as the rest of the population in Belgium at the start of the year.
The report also shows that quite a large number of people working in sectors where teleworking is possible, such as architects, accountants and people working in finance, still got infected.
"This shows that it remains important to focus on teleworking. Otherwise, there is a risk of more staff downtime and companies may shut down or have difficulty operating," professor of occupational medicine Lode Godderis said.
Virologist Steven Van Gucht said during a press conference on Friday that the number of infections in the workplace has risen sharply from 194 to 426 outbreaks, adding that caution remains necessary in the workplace. He advised people to continue working from home if possible.
