Spotlight on Belgium – A guide to implementing employee benefits technology

With its location and importance to the European Union, Belgium is a key hub for multinational companies. The workforce in Belgium is comprised of a wide range of nationalities so there’s an increased complexity in providing a benefits package that offers employees both protection and security, as well as choice and relevancy. 

Organisations that wish to stand out in a competitive job market are leveraging employee benefits technology to provide a more personalised employee experience. 

Mandatory Benefits 

Social Security  

Employees contribute 13.07% of their salary towards social security contributions, while employers contribute 19.88%. These contributions go towards benefits such as retirement, death, sickness, disability, medical, workers’ compensation (employer contribution only), maternity and unemployment. 

Health insurance  

Health insurance must be taken out by residents in Belgium, either privately or through employment. When done through employment, employees pay for this benefit through their social security contributions, covering them for use of the public health insurance system.  

All employees over 25 must also register with a mutual insurance fund known as a “Mutuelle”, which reimburses costs for medical expenses. After joining, reimbursements between 50% to 75% of medical costs will be provided.  

Co-payments for 2024 include: 

• Medical treatment – typically 25%, dependent on the type of treatment 

• Hospital costs – ranging from €6.90 per day to €46.69 per day 

Most employers provide a supplementary medical plan through group private medical insurance (PMI) to cover 60% to 100% reimbursement of medical care costs. This can also include more extensive benefits like private rooms and better facilities whilst in hospital and during outpatient care. This is fully financed by the employer, except for cover upgrades or adding dependents cover, which is at the employees’ expense. 

Life insurance and accidental death 

Almost all employers provide life, accidental death and long-term disability cover. However, Group Life (GL) insurance is provided through an employee’s pension plan and may be dependent on family status. For example, it’s one times the employees’ annual salary for a single employee, two/three times their annual salary for a married employee (or a couple that’s cohabiting), and an additional 0.25/0.5 times the employees’ salary for each child.   

This approach is becoming less common though, with most companies providing a flat rate of two times the employee’s annual salary. An accidental death rider is also common, where the payout is four times the employees’ salary for death by accident. 

Long term disability falls under an income replacement plan, where employees receive 60% to 70% of their annual salary, which may vary depending on the degree of illness or disability. 

Pension 

The Belgian pension system works according to three pillars: 

• Pillar one – State pension 

• Pillar two – Occupational pension, usually mandated by a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 

• Pillar three – Private pension 

Under the first pillar, Belgian residents will receive a pension after reaching retirement age, and if they have made social security contributions. Although early retirement is possible, the normal retirement age is 66 in 2025 and will be 67 in 2030. The annual pension amount is equal to the total salary of the qualifying person for each year they’ve worked, times the pension rate (60% for a single employee, 75% for an employee with dependents) and then divided by 45. The maximum, also known as the social security ceiling (SSC), is €77,924.46 for 2024.  

The pensionable salary for white collar employees is 100%, and 108% for blue collar employees. Earnings include bonuses, overtime pay, commission and prescribed benefits in kind.  

For white collar employees under the second pillar, employers will typically contribute 3% to 5% of the employee’s salary up to the SSC, and 7% to 12% of the employee’s pensionable salary over the SSC. For blue collar employees under the second pillar, employers will typically contribute 0.5% to 1% of the employee’s salary. However, the contributions may be subject to the CBA. Employees do not contribute to these plans.  

In addition to state and mandated occupational pensions, the third pillar concerns private or supplementary pension plans. This is a must have for companies with a median or above market benefit offering. Employer contributions are between 6% and 10% depending on the position of the company, while employees contribute between 2% and 4%. 

Pension, life and disability plans are often combined with one provider. Premium waiver is usually included within the life and disability plan so that premiums for this and pension contributions continue when the employee is unable to work for medical reasons. 

Other popular benefits 

Allowances 

Lunch allowances are a popular offering among Belgium employers, with a maximum employer contribution of €6.91 and a minimum employee contribution of €1.09 per day. These may be mandated by collective agreements. 

Wellbeing allowances are increasingly replacing gym memberships, previously a popular benefit in Belgium. This allows employees to purchase gym memberships as before, but also provides them with the flexibility to spend the allotted money on online classes, sports clubs or other physical activities that might better suit them.  

In addition, a travel allowance covering all travel costs must be provided by the employer according to the local CBA. A cycle to work allowance, subject to a maximum of 40 kilometres per day, is equal to €0.28 per kilometre. 

Eco vouchers 

Eco vouchers are unique to Belgium and very popular among employees. They can be used to purchase environmentally friendly goods and services, including public transport, water saving devices, low energy bulbs, and garden plants and trees. These are exempt from tax and social security deductions, provided they are less than €250 per year, per employee. 

Holiday buy 

Holiday buy is an increasingly popular benefit. Given the multinational make-up of the workforce, purchasing additional leave means employees can spend more time at home, visiting friends and family, pursuing hobbies or holidaying. Employees looking for a strong work-life balance often value this benefit highly.

Key considerations for implementing employee benefits in Belgium 

1.Providing multilingual capabilities is very important. Enabling employees to select the language in which they would prefer to receive their benefits information, such as policy documents, prevents miscommunication of what’s on offer to them.

2.Employee benefits tech can overcome difficult role definitions. Unlike many European countries, Belgium still makes distinctions between blue and white collar workers. A blue collar worker is one that provides manual labour, while a white collar worker is considered intellectual labour. In the modern job market, it can be harder to define roles according to these descriptions. Eligibility rules within OneHub can help differentiate between employees’ roles and present the benefits that are most relevant to them.

3. Take your benefits offering one step further with flexible benefits. Organisations in Belgium are moving towards a more flexible benefits strategy, where employees are given a fund that can be spent across their entire benefits offering, giving employees more choice that is personalised to their needs.

To learn more about the benefits landscape in Belgium, to benchmark your offering, or to see how a global benefits platform can help you deliver a seamless employee experience in the region, speak to one of our benefits experts.