{"id":881283,"date":"2026-10-25T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=881283"},"modified":"2026-10-23T15:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T13:35:22","slug":"top-country-for-work-life-balance-hunting-for-skilled-south-africans-offering-up-to-r90000-per-month-and-42-days-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/881283\/top-country-for-work-life-balance-hunting-for-skilled-south-africans-offering-up-to-r90000-per-month-and-42-days-leave\/","title":{"rendered":"Top country for work-life balance hunting for skilled South Africans \u2014 offering up to R90,000 per month and 42 days leave"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belgium is increasingly looking to South Africa to fill critical skills shortages, with some employers offering salaries of up to R90,000 per month, relocation assistance, and up to 42 days of annual leave, including public holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Beaver Recruitment SA, demand for South African professionals has grown as European employers struggle to find workers for technical and industrial occupations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belgium has emerged as one of the world’s leading countries for work-life balance, ranking third in Remote’s Global Life-Work Balance Index<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Its employment protections, leave provisions, and working-hour regulations have helped make it an attractive destination for skilled workers seeking opportunities abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicholas Avramis, managing director of Beaver Recruitment, told BusinessTech that employers in Belgium were offering substantial packages to attract South African talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These can include monthly gross salaries of between \u20ac2,833 and \u20ac5,000, equivalent to approximately R52,700 to R92,800, depending on the position and employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some packages also include signing bonuses of around \u20ac1,500 (R27,860), employer-funded airfare, visa costs and accommodation assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional benefits can include lunch allowances and assistance with relocating family members. In some arrangements, employers help workers relocate their families after a year and assist spouses in finding employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on the employment arrangement, workers can receive up to 32 days of annual leave, with public holidays bringing the total number of days away from work to approximately 42.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belgium has reported a job vacancy rate of 4.1%, with more than 163,000 positions available. An ageing population and a mismatch between the skills employers need and those available locally have contributed to the pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avramis noted that a major Belgian industrial company visited South Africa twice in 2025 and had another recruitment trip planned for November 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company was expected to hire approximately 40 South African workers during the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is no longer exploratory recruitment\u2014this is structured, ongoing hiring. Europe is building long-term pipelines from South Africa,\u201d Avramis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa is an important source of technical skills<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Nicholas Avramis, managing director of Beaver Recruitment SA<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The newly launched Forum Jobs South Africa aims to connect local candidates with Belgian employers through a recruitment process on both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative brings together Belgium-based Forum Jobs HR Group and South African recruitment and immigration firm Beaver Recruitment & Migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 1997, Forum Jobs operates more than 50 offices in Belgium and specialises in technical and industrial staffing across manufacturing, engineering, logistics, construction, and skilled trades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its South African recruitment programme will focus on maintenance technicians, millwrights, industrial electricians, mechanics, manufacturing technicians and skilled artisans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candidates will be sourced and supported locally, while screening, employer matching, work permit processing, and relocation arrangements will be coordinated with the Belgian operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forum Jobs CEO Marjolein Geens said South Africa was an important source of technical skills for Belgian employers facing recruitment difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avramis added that the partnership was also intended to address fraudulent overseas recruitment schemes, which have left South African job seekers out of pocket after paying fees for jobs that did not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said some candidates had resigned from secure employment after receiving false promises, while others had spent thousands of rand on paperwork for positions that were never genuine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership aims to provide candidates with access to a local recruitment team and a verified employer network in Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, prospective applicants should independently verify job offers, employment contracts, and work permit requirements before making financial commitments or resigning from existing positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the advertised salaries can be attractive, they are generally gross figures before Belgian income tax and social security deductions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actual earnings will depend on the role, working hours, shift allowances and individual employment contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos of parts of Belgium<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Demand for South African professionals has grown as European employers struggle to find workers for technical and industrial occupations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":859793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2114372670930174275","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2248811095939289","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18650307859030217","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[22242,23790,26930,853],"class_list":["post-881283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-beaver-recruitment-sa","tag-belgium","tag-forum-jobs-hr-group","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881309,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881283\/revisions\/881309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}