Vlerick Expertise in Human Resource Management

Belgian HR managers are increasingly becoming strategic business partners in companies. Furthermore, businesses are recruiting fewer external
people for this position. When assessing staff performance, companies still predominantly prefer the traditional interview. Remuneration is increasingly based on individual performance. Coaching and mentoring are on the way up as methods for furthering the growth and development of staff. And finally, recruitment through job advertisements has shown a downward trend.

The two key factors that determine the remuneration allocated to CEOs are the country in which his or her company is located and its size. The CEOs of listed companies in the UK and Germany earn the most, while Belgian, Dutch and Swedish CEOs receive relatively less. The composition of the remuneration packages allocated is also prone to significant differences: the variable portion is relatively high in Germany, the Netherlands and particularly in the UK; in Belgium, France and Sweden this is significantly lower. Additionally, this study revealed that those companies that perform best do not necessarily pay their CEOs a higher salary; they make more frequent use of share-related remuneration.

Although the importance of a supplementary pension has gradually become widely understood, the amount of the annual employer contribution is greatly overestimated. More than one employee in two (54%) has no idea what contribution their employer pays into this so-called second pillar. More and clearer communication becomes in this way an important attention point. This communication employees want above all digitally and via a single central platform. This is the lesson of a survey by Vlerick Business School and AG Insurance.

Fringe benefits are becoming increasingly commonplace in the labour market. But employers still see ample opportunities for leveraging this popularity in their HR policy by means of better communication, especially as regards the package of supplementary pension and health care plans. More and more employers also want to be able to arrange these types of fringe benefits more flexibly in the future. These are the main conclusions from a study that AG Insurance carried out in cooperation with Vlerick Business School in which more than 100 Belgian employers participated .

CEOs consider the non-financial aspects of their job much more important than their financial reward. This is according to a study among almost 1,000 Dutch and Belgian CEOs. CEOs are mainly driven by ambition and non-financial factors, such as the challenge the job brings with it, the feeling of achieving progress and the pride of working for the organisation. Notably, female CEOs obtain most motivation from the work climate and cooperation with other members of the top management.

The main priority for Belgian human resources departments continues to be the development of the competencies of managers, i.e. leadership development, as the HR Barometer study by HR consultancy Hudson and Vlerick Business School reveals. Talent management – the attraction, development and motivation of talent in the organisation – is still ranked a clear second.

How can you make your performance management efforts pay off more? In the paper ‘Trends in Performance Management’, Professor Koen Dewettinck identifies six factors, illustrating each of them with one or more practical examples.

We all have to work. However, the key to finding happiness on the job is to feel good at work. There are countless benefits to happiness at work, both for the employee and the company, as scientific research has repeatedly shown. According to "The Happiness Advantage” by the American researcher Shawn Achor, happy employees are up to 31% more productive and their creativity is three times higher. With the support of ESF Flanders, Vlerick Business School and HR service provider Attentia have therefore developed a new tool which wants to promote happiness at work.

The historical decision to nationalise the activities should have been the start of a new beginning for Fortis Bank. However, in this second part of the case it becomes clear that it was only the start of a prolonged period of additional uncertainty, characterized by legal wrangling, disgruntled shareholders, rumours and misinformation.

From the year 2007, the effects of the crisis that hit the financial sector were felt hard and painfully by many organisations. The Fortis Holding, a Belgian Dutch service provider in banking and insurance, was no exception. The first part of the case starts with the historical decision to (partly) nationalise the activities of the Fortis holding by the Dutch, Luxemburg and Belgian state. Throughout the case emphasis is placed on the various human consequences and emotions, triggered by the events.