Belgium offers a multilingual, highly productive workforce with automatic wage indexation and strong protections. All-in employer cost runs around 1.27x the gross salary. Here is what to know before your first Belgian hire.
Employment runs under statute and sector collective agreements (via joint committees), with automatic indexation that raises wages as prices rise. A 13th month and double holiday pay are widespread, and probation periods were abolished in 2014.
A national minimum applies (about €2,029 per month*), with higher floors often set by the relevant joint committee.
Monthly, with a 13th-month bonus and double holiday pay common by sector agreement, and automatic indexation of wages.
There are 10 public holidays a year, with a replacement day if one falls on a weekend.
Written terms are standard. There is no probation period for ordinary employees since 2014; short notice in the first months applies instead.
Employer social-security contributions come to roughly 25% of gross salary after structural reductions, with sector funds sometimes adding more.
Belgian wages are automatically indexed to a price index, so payroll rises during inflation without renegotiation.
Employees pay a social-security share plus income tax on a steeply progressive scale, withheld at source. Withholding is the employer's responsibility, which under EOR means ours.
Four weeks (20 days) of statutory leave a year, funded with holiday pay, plus extra days under some agreements.
Fifteen weeks of maternity leave, paid mainly through health insurance.
Up to 20 days of birth leave for the co-parent, plus time-credit and parental-leave schemes.
The employer pays a guaranteed salary for the first month of illness, after which health insurance takes over.
Notice is set in weeks by a statutory formula that scales with tenure, or paid in lieu. Special protections apply to certain categories.
Compensation is generally delivered through the notice period or an equivalent payment rather than a separate lump sum.
There is no probation period; short statutory notice applies during the first months instead.
A self-employed worker who is really subordinate can be reclassified (schijnzelfstandigheid), with back contributions.
*All figures are estimates from public sources (2025-26), pending ops verification - same basis as the EOR cost calculator. Not tax or legal advice.
Compliant Belgian employment contract, indexed payroll, social security, and benefits, handled. One invoice, flat $699 per month.