Boom in sabbatical leave applications in Belgium

Almost 69,000 employees and civil servants in Belgium have voluntarily interrupted their career to devote themselves on a temporary basis to family responsibilities, such as caring for a child or a sick relative, or to study for additional qualifications. Sabbatical leave schemes are increasingly successful - the first eight months of 1998 saw another 8,000 people taking up such a scheme.

In early October 1998, Miet Smet, the Belgian Federal Minister of Employment, introduced a proposal to extend the various sabbatical leave schemes and make them more flexible. The schemes had been introduced in 1985 by Michel Hansenne, then Minister of Employment, acting on an initiative of Ms Smet, then an MP. Now, 13 years later, the schemes are a model for the whole of Europe, claims Ms Smet. For example, in 1997 the Netherlands introduced a similar scheme based on the ones used in Belgium.

Civil servants have long been entitled to sabbatical leave. By the end of August 1998, 36,000 of them, almost 5% of all civil servants, had in taken sabbaticals. As from 1 January 1999, employees in the private sector will have the same right, although it will be restricted to a maximum of 3% of the total workforce currently employed by the company. This is a clear improvement compared with the present situation, where the right to sabbatical leave is limited to just 1% of all staff.

Granting sabbatical leave is not just a "family-friendly" measure but also a major incentive to create employment, since government and private business will have to find (temporary) replacements for staff affected from amongst unemployed people. Everyone benefits: employees can stay at home; unemployed people get jobs; and the Treasury makes a profit, for the cost of paying those on sabbatical leave (BEF 6.4 billion a year) is compensated by the BEF 9.2 billion thus saved on unemployment benefit.

Because companies complain of the increasing scarcity of qualified job-seekers to replace staff on sabbatical leave, the list of potential replacements has been expanded - in addition to "ordinary" unemployed people it now also includes temporary staff, school leavers and part-time staff. The obligation to employ replacement staff does not apply to small businesses with fewer than 10 employees.

From 1 October 1998, benefits will be raised to BEF 20,000 a month for those who take certain kinds of sabbatical. These include full-time childcare leave (for a period of three months or, in case of half-time leave, six months), sickness leave, or leave to care for a sick or disabled relative (to a full-time maximum of 12 months or a half-time maximum of 24 months). In addition, a preferential scheme for employees of 50 and over remains in force: older employees may continue in half-time employment and retain their full-time salary. So far, this scheme has attracted 17,500 people.

Childcare leave remains largely the prerogative of women: 85% of all people taking childcare leave are women. Of 654 employees who have taken childcare leave, 609 were women who often simply prolonged maternity leave. Even so, the scheme is now proving to be very popular indeed - early in 1998, only 12 employees had taken child-care leave, but this number had grown to 654 by the end of August. On the other hand, very few people take leave for the purpose of caring for sick or disabled friends or relatives.

Since 1994, the Flemish government has encouraged schemes to promote a voluntary restructuring of employment. Both sabbatical leave (full-time or part-time) and reduced working hours (part-time jobs) are being encouraged. Incentive payments may be granted for a period of no more than two years. The measures complement and reinforce a number of federal programmes.

So far incentives have been paid only if working hours are reduced by at least 20%. However, in future an incentive of BEF 2,000 a month may be paid even if working hours are reduced by just 10%-20%, provided that full-time jobs are involved. Payment is subject to a number of conditions, in order to guarantee the company concerned that substitute employees will fit into the organisation of the labour process and that shorter working hours will lead to job restructuring. Various data show the quantitative success of the incentive system. More than 26,000 individual applications have been approved, of which roughly 20,000 came from private business and roughly 6,000 from the government sector. Provisions with a significant effect on employment were laid down in 380 sectoral or company collective agreements.

The number of beneficiaries of the incentive payments scheme is growing each year, in line with the budget, as indicated in the table below.