[imagesource:here]

Hands up if you want to move to Belgium: loads of chocolate, waffles, beer, and now the agreement to introduce a four-day workweek.

While the UK is orchestrating its new pilot of a four-day working week with no less pay for participating employees, Belgium is going ahead to make it a reality for the long term.

The labour market reforms were announced on Tuesday after the country’s multi-party coalition government agreed that Belgium businesses would try and step up to the challenge.

In addition to having a shorter workweek approved, employers will also be allowed to switch their phones off after work and ignore their bosses without consequence.

That right there sounds like the good life.

Plus, while full-time employees will be able to work more flexibly, folks hustling in the gig economy will be granted stronger legal protections under the new rules.

Per Euronews, prime minister Alexander de Croo referenced the brutality of the COVID-19 pandemic during yesterday’s press conference:

“We have experienced two difficult years. With this agreement, we set a beacon for an economy that is more innovative, sustainable and digital. The aim is to be able to make people and businesses stronger.”

The draft reform package is still going through the motions, but soon, employees will be able to request a four-day week.

Then, they will have to maintain working just 38-hour a week, with an additional day off compensating for longer workdays:

“This has to be done at the request of the employee, with the employer giving solid reasons for any refusal,” Belgian labour minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne told the press conference.

A government spokesperson confirmed to Euronews Next that employees would be able to ask to work four days a week for a period of six months. After that, they could choose to continue the arrangement or return to a five-day week with no negative consequences.

“The period of six months was chosen so that an employee would not be stuck for too long in case of a wrong choice,” they said.

Dermagne also acknowledges that the boundary between work and private life is quite grey, and that “incessant demands can harm the physical and mental health of the worker”.

So just like the rights that were given to civil servants working for Belgium’s federal government in January – to switch off their phones and ignore work-related messages after hours without reprisal – all workers will receive the same.

The reform package also aims to take care of folks working the gig economy, such as Uber drivers and the like.

These workers will receive insurance against work-related injuries and clearer rules will be set to define who is/is not self-employed:

In Belgium, platform workers meeting three out of eight possible criteria – including those whose work performance is monitored, who are unable to refuse jobs, or whose pay is decided by the company – will now be considered employees with rights to sick leave and paid time off.

This will give more autonomy and protection to those who want to work as self-employed people.

It is very exciting to watch the world ramp up with a better work/life balance for all.

We’ll be watching the space closely.

[source:euronews]