2020 will forever be remembered as the year in which lockdowns, social distancing and self-isolation became part of our daily vocabulary. Now that the novelty of working in your pyjama’s is starting to wear off and you’ve seen every meme pass by at least twice, you might find yourself starting to feel slightly less enamoured with your new place of work. Because chances are your home office comprises a chair at the dining table, or perhaps a small desk jammed into a corner of the living room.
The Belgian government has also thought of smaller business owners with regards to support measures. A quick roundup of the main measures. Please note there are some differences between Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels, so always check with your own bookkeeper before taking action.
As the corona virus pandemic continues to impact the operations and workforce of companies in Belgium, there are many questions about how to secure and protect the work and residence rights of foreign staff. The situation is fluid and government guidance does not exist for every scenario.
AIRINC’s annual Mobility Outlook Survey shares insights, strategies, and challenges of 168 best practice global organisations. This year’s survey takes a closer look on how mobility is becoming increasingly focused on delivering value to customers. Many are leveraging technology and vendor partnerships to streamline operations and improve the mobility experience. When asked for this year’s priorities, 69% of participants selected simplifying administration, 63% chose enhancing the employee experience, and 48% indicated improving communications with the business. Proactively engaging customers for input, evergreen policy reviews, and searching the market for leading products, services, and technology are now part of Mobility’s regular activities. AIRINC has identified three key areas that support this general trend: making good decisions, ensuring effective governance and communicating creatively. We bring you the main highlights from this report.
Over 232 million people relocate annually to all corners of the globe, yet only a fraction receive professional support from relocation service providers. Millions of foreign assignees are left to find their own way around their new home country, with varying levels of success. The brand new platform Xpatris.com aims to help smooth their entry into Belgium by providing immediate access to the most essential information. We spoke with cofounder Salvatore Orlando to find out more.
As you may be aware, the ABRA Board focuses its efforts through dedicated committees for each theme: relocation, membership, events and communication. By bundling our strengths we are able to work more effectively and efficiently, however, it’s not just board members who drive our committees. Any ABRA member can join and even chair a committee. We are always seeking new insights and bright ideas on how we can move our association forward. Ideas such as the creation of our brand new membership category specifically for freelance relocation consultants.
With so many outstanding sessions and thought provoking speakers at this year’s EuRA conference, it wasn’t easy choosing one to feature. However, the session on identifying trends discussed important global meta trends and their impact on the mobility industry. Recurring themes throughout the conference included rising costs and dropping prices, the changing scope of work, the rising popularity of the lump sum relocation and systematic under-investment in technology. Moderator Francis Edmonds spoke with Bill Graebel, owner and CEO of Greabel Companies and Chairman and CEO of Dwellworks Bob Rosen to get their take on these issues.
from left to right: Bob Rosen, Bill Graebel and Francis Edmonds
This spring the first ASAP network event took place at an amazing location on the Brussels Grand Place. This was hosted by BBF, leader in the rental of serviced apartments, and sponsored by KBC Brussels. BBF Serviced Apartments, or previously Brussels Business Flats, has been an important player in providing temporary accommodation to expats and employees of international companies and organisations since 1992. BBF currently operates more than 1700 apartments in Brussels and Budapest, and recently it has also set foot in Antwerp.
An essential part of business ownership is ensuring that you and your employees are covered for all those kind of situations where things can get messy. Dealing with unexpected issues can amount to quite a challenge, so ensuring you and your staff are taken care of at every moment is fundamental to the security of your company. But how do you know which company provides the services you need? Based on what risks do you choose your insurance coverage? In an effort to answer these questions we spoke with Laurent Martin from ALLIA Insurance Brokers, Alain Voets from Concordia Insurances and Filip Declerq from Expat & Co.
How time flies. It’s been three years since ReLocate last explored the key communications trends for businesses. High time to find out what’s changed – and what hasn’t – in a world defined by disruptors and advances in digital technology. We’ve ploughed through endless white papers and trend reports to uncover what we should be talking about in 2019 and how we should be doing it. We delve into the biggest driving forces of the decade and talk about some of the most important communications trends today. For your business, your clients and your team.
