Belgium Benefits & Details

Benefits vary by country in accordance with each country’s employment laws. This page serves as an overview of benefits for Belgium. The Employer of Record for Belgium, Remote, can provide additional details on the benefits that they administer (denoted below with *).

In addition to location-specific benefits, Shared Benefits are available to all team members.

Holidays*

  • New Year’s Day
  • Easter Monday
  • Labor Day
  • Ascension Day
  • Whit Monday
  • National Day
  • Assumption of Mary
  • All Saints’ Day
  • Armstice Day
  • Christmas Day

All holidays are determined by the Employer of Record and may vary by year.

Annual Leave/Vacation*

Team members accrue 20 days of annual leave per year. The accrual increases to 25 days per year on the third anniversary at thoughtbot. Any unused annual leave accrued during an accrual year can be used before it expires at the end of the accrual year (January - December).

Sick Time*

Team members are eligible for fully paid sick leave for up to 30 calendar days, and up to 60% pay beyond the 30 calendar days. A medical certificate is required for any paid sick time.

Parental Leave*

All thoughtbot team members are eligible for both paid and unpaid parental leave after the birth or adoption of a child. The paid and unpaid leave can be combined for up to at least 6 months of total time off. In some locations, team members are eligible for more time off. thoughtbot ensures 6 weeks 100% paid parental leave for all non-birthing parents and 12 weeks 100% paid parental leave for all birthing parents. In locations with their own system for paid leave, thoughtbot’s policy runs concurrently with the local system.

Birthing Parents

Birthing parents are entitled to 15 weeks of leave. Up to 6 of these weeks can be taken before the due date, but a minimum of 1 week must be taken before the due date. It is mandatory for the birthing parent to take a minimum of 9 weeks after the birth of a child. The Health Insurance Fund pays for the birthing parent’s leave:

  • up to 82% of the salary for the first 30 calendar days of the leave
  • up to 75% of the salary from the 31st day and on.

thoughtbot ensures 100% pay for the first 12 weeks by topping off the benefit amount for the first 12 weeks for birthing parents.

Non-birthing Parents

Non-birthing parents are paid for 12 days by the Health Insurance Fund at a rate of 82% of the regular salary. thoughtbot ensures 100% pay for 6 weeks, including by topping off the Health Insurance Fund’s benefit amount for the 12 days.

Bereavement Leave

Team members may take up to 5 paid days off anytime someone close passes away. This includes pregnancy loss. We understand the deep impact that death can have on an individual or a family, so if you need more than 5 days off, you can also use your accrued paid time off, or unpaid time off.

Medical Insurance*

Medical insurance is available through Allianz.

Compensation*

The annual salary is paid in 13 payments per year—one for each month, plus another payment in December.

Team members also receive double holiday pay in May of each year, which equals 92% of the month’s salary. The double holiday pay is prorated monthly based on the previous calendar year for those who were employed in the previous calendar year. The annual salary accounts for the double holiday pay.

Collective Bargining Agreemeent (CBA)*

All our team members in Belgium are part of a union. The CBA determines the annual salary increase amount in Belgium, which goes into effect retroactively on January 1st of each year.

Payroll Cycle*

All payments are processed through Remote. All bonuses, stipends, and expense reimbursements are added to the monthly payment, which is made on or before the last working day of each month, payable in arrears. The cut off date for submitting and approving expenses is the 10th of the month.

The details of your notice period can be found in your Remote contract. The standard notice period for the Belgium is 30 days.

Notice Period*

In Belgium the notice period is determined by the CBA and should be confirmed with Remote. The minimum required notice period for Belgium depends on the length of employment.

  • <3 months: 1 week
  • 3-6 months: 2 weeks
  • 6-12 months: 3 weeks
  • 12-18 months: 4 weeks
  • 18-24 months: 5 weeks
  • 3-4 years: 6 weeks
  • 5+ years: 7 weeks