Since September 1st 2014, the term ''burn out'' was officially recognized in Belgian employment legislation. Mechelen Belgium, September 3rd - Since an amendment was announced in which employers are required to take measures against burnout among their employees, not a day passes without this hot topic showing up in an article somewhere. Since September 1st, the new legislation has become fact. How have Belgian Top Employers handled burnout among their employees prior to and since the new legislation?
It's not to be underestimated, all this commotion around burnt out colleagues. Since September 1st, and for the very first time, the concept of burnout has been adopted into Belgian legislation. The general term "psychosocial risks" includes this concept after all, in addition to terms such as bullying, violence, sexual intimidation and depression. Some of the measures a business can take are awareness raising campaigns and a reporting system. In order to adjust to the new legislation, businesses are granted respite in adjusting their employment regulations. But the legal recognition states that all businesses should be in compliance with the legislation no later than February 28thnext year.
Many companies did not wait until September 1st with putting measures in place to limit the phenomenon of burnout in the workplace. This is evident from the study by Top Employers, who carry out an annual audit of the HR policies of several major Belgian employers. This shows that these companies believe that wellbeing is a serious matter and are putting a considerable amount of preventive measures in place. Most of these companies class the problem of burnout under the wider context of "wellbeing at work."
It shows that no less than 94% of the Belgian Top Employers formally offer the option of a 1 to 1 session with a counsellor. Also welfare programs such as stress and time management perform well, with respectively 83 and 90% of companies who have part formally, part informally adopted these into their policies. Informally implies that these companies have these programs available should an employee request it, but don’t make them mandatory.
Present statistics state that already 68% of the Belgian Top Employers are well ahead of the recently introduced legislation. They offer a specific burnout recovery program for their employees, and are therefore pioneers in the field of combating burnout.
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