More than 80% of Belgian workers believe they are not able to work until age 66, which will nevertheless be the legal pension age from February 1, 2025.
While the year 2025 marque recovery, from 65 to 66 yearsthe legal pension age, eight out of 10 workers in Belgium think they cannot work until age 66 or older, according to a survey carried out by the HR service provider Securex from a representative sample of 1,482 Belgian employees.
From February 1, 2025the legal pension age will actually pass from 65 to 66 years old for all workers aged 65 or under in Belgium. And yet, eight out of 10 Belgian workers (80,4%) say they cannot work up to 66 years or beyonda percentage similar to that of a previous survey in 2019 (82.5%).
This proportion is, however, more favorable among workers over 55dont seven out of 10 (70.3%) claim they cannot work until age 66. This represents a strong improvement compared to 2019 (85.7% who said they could not go until age 66). For Securex, this improvement is due “to less physically demanding jobsto a greater flexibility and to a greater sense of autonomyfor example thanks to more telework, compared to 2019.
“On the other hand, a high rate of absence due to illness (absenteeism) and a micro-management with little attention to autonomous motivation have a negative impact on the ability to work until age 66 or beyond,” underlines the human resources specialist.
Besides the ability to work, desire doing so is also an important element for working until age 66 or older, and here too Belgian workers score very low: only one in 10 workers in Belgium (10.5%) say they want to work until age 66, according to the survey.
On average, workers over 55 surveyed say they want to stop working 63,2 ans.
In order to maintain the motivation of workers throughout their career and improve their desire to work, Securex advises employers in particular to manage proactively the legal change in the pension age in Belgium, and create a work environment that promotes autonomy, use of skills and connection between workers. It is also suggested to invest in training opportunitiesin sufficient autonomy, but also in adequate supervision which promotes well-being and motivation.
