In Belgium, one in five workers (21%) receives an annual cash bonus. This amounts to an average 1,935 euros (pre-tax), according to a study by Acerta, the HR company.
Acerta tempers this finding by stating, “For some workers this variable wage is barely a few euros, whilst others are earning tens of thousands of euros.”
Higher bonuses are earned in Flanders.
Some 22% of workers in Flanders received a cash bonus in 2015, compared to 11% in Wallonia and 11% in the Brussels-Capital region.
There are also high regional variations in average bonus. Thus, the average bonus given to employees in 2015 was 2,757 euros in Flanders, 3,048 euros in Wallonia and 4,308 euros in the Brussels-Capital region.
Acerta says that large companies pay more attention to a bonus policy.
As high as 44% of workers in companies with more than 500 workers received a cash bonus last year. In businesses with less than 20 workers, around 6% of personnel are seeing a bonus appear in their current account.
This rate climbs to 15% for companies with between 20 and 100 workers, and to 25% for companies of between 100 to 500 workers.
Moreover, the average bonus amount per worker is higher in small companies when compared to large ones.
Catherine Langenaeken, Acerta’s Legal & Reward consultant, says, “Cash bonuses apply for workers of any age and indeed profile, but we notice that men between the ages of 33 and 52 are more likely to obtain a bonus. As labourers are not as often paid on a performance-related basis, it is mainly office personnel that come out of our figures.”
The Brussels Times
