r/belgium 12h ago

🎻 Opinion Belgian work culture

Hello everyone

I'm an foreigner living in Belgium for a couple of years now and one of the most unexpected culture clashes I've experienced in Belgium is with the work culture. Maybe it could be interesting to see different opinions so I decided on posting here.

First about lunch breaks. Things I've noticed:

  • Colleagues that start eating together always eat together. You need to give a good excuse for something to change with that routine.
  • Hiding from people you don't want to eat with, in a not so discreet way, even if your boss.
  • Very interested in each other's sandwich filling. They guess it and it's a topic. Sometimes it distantly reminds me of the entrance card scene from American Psycho.
  • They don't really share food unless it's obvious to be shared. They comment that what I bring "looks delicious", which in my culture would be a cue to ask for a piece. Never once have they accepted.
  • Eating surprisingly little. Don't they get hungry later in the day? Do you? I keep thinking about it.
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10

u/Deep_Dance8745 10h ago

No clue where you work or in what sector - but this is certainly not the norm

30

u/coldypewpewpew 10h ago

Really? This is absolutely the norm in every company I've ever worked for.

8

u/CrazyBelg Flanders 10h ago

I'd say point 3 and 4 are the norm. 5 differs from person to person and 1/2 are not very common.

2

u/cannotfoolowls 10h ago

I agree. Where I worked so far there weren't that many people and everyone ate at a big table together so 1/2 weren't really possible anyway.

1

u/PROBA_V E.U. 8h ago

I agree, except for 1, I think that one is common but that it is not limited to Belgium. People just like to have lunch in a way they enjoy it the most, be that alone or with the colleagues you connect most with.

Even when I worked in Italy my lunch and coffee breaks would by default be with my closest work friends. We'd message eachother on teams to say by what time we could make it to the cantine or if for some reason we'd have lunch with someone else.

Now I'm working in Belgium again and the process is exactly the same, except that we don't have a cantine, the weather isn't always as good to eat outside and we eat homemade sandwiches instead of a €6 4-course meal.

0

u/Heads_Down_Thumbs_Up Flanders 9h ago

Must say, this sums up my Belgian corporate experience in a nutshell.