Federal government launches campaign: Remote workers have the right to cut off communication

Constant changes and measures of aura don’t do much for our mental health at work. The situation before the crisis was not rosy either. Recent figures from RIZIV/INAMI show that the number of Belgians suffering from fatigue or depression has increased by about 10 percent each year over the past four years.

And so the federal government gets to work. In the first stage, they want to make the topic of well-being at work more open for discussion based on advertisements on radio, television, social media and the ikvoelmegoedophetwerk.be website.

In the second phase, there will be a call for innovative projects, as Health Minister Frank Vandenbroek (Forwitt) explains. “We are looking for out-of-the-ordinary answers to traditional problems. We know that there are many good initiatives in this area, but they are often unknown.” This could relate to, for example, training managers in conversation about telecommuting or mental flexibility, for example, introducing a board game to make flexibility a topic of discussion. In the third stage, the selected projects can then be anchored into policy.

The right to disconnect is also fundamental to the campaign, Labor Minister Pierre-Yves Dermani (Socialist Party) said. “Certainly with remote work it is often difficult to break free from work. We will now ask social partners to advise on how to make this right to structural separation of communication for all employees.”