Talent shortage: the war Belgian SMEs are fighting unarmed

Almost three Belgian employers in four are struggling to recruit, and the country counts among those with the highest job vacancy rates in Europe. Faced with this tight market, most SMEs believe they are unarmed: they cannot match the salaries of large groups. That is an error of analysis. SMEs have formidable weapons to attract and keep talent; they simply do not use them.

An SME leader posts a vacancy for a key role. Three weeks later, the inbox is almost empty, and the few applications don't fit. Discouraged, they conclude that there is nobody left on the market, or that good profiles are only interested in large companies and their salaries. Both conclusions are partly true, and both hide what matters: the problem is not only the scarcity of talent, it is the way the SME presents itself to them, and what it offers them once they are hired.

A market tight for the long run

The figures leave no room for doubt. According to ManpowerGroup's annual survey, 72 % of Belgian employers report difficulties filling their vacancies, 70 % in Wallonia, and nearly one in five speaks of serious difficulty. Statbel counted more than 190,000 vacancies in the first quarter of 2025, one of the highest rates on the continent. Strikingly, neither the waves of restructuring nor the rise of automation and artificial intelligence have loosened this market. The shortage is not a cyclical accident, it is a structural fact that SMEs will have to live with for a long time.

The wrong fight: the salary bidding war

Faced with the shortage, the first reflex is to try to match salaries, ground on which an SME almost always loses against a large group. It is a badly chosen fight, for two reasons. First because the SME does not have the same financial surface, and exhausting itself in a bidding war weakens its cash position. Second, and above all, because gross salary is neither the only nor the best lever. In 2026, qualified candidates also weigh flexibility, meaning, autonomy, the quality of the management relationship, and the net pay that actually lands in their account. On all of that ground, the SME can win, provided it plays there deliberately.

The overlooked weapon: optimise the package, not the gross

Here is the lever too many SMEs ignore: for the same employer budget, you can offer a higher net or more attractive benefits by working on the structure of the package rather than on gross salary alone. A cafeteria plan lets the employee compose part of their remuneration à la carte, choosing between tax-optimised benefits according to their circumstances. Warrants, within the Belgian legal framework, provide a variable component with favourable social security and tax treatment. On top of that come the better-known but often under-used arrangements: meal vouchers, eco-vouchers, group insurance, mobility, extra days of leave. Well assembled, these elements let an SME put a competitive package on the table without blowing up its employer cost. This trade-off touches tax and employment law: it is built with your accountant and your social secretariat (the Belgian payroll administration provider), never improvised. But ignoring it means fighting with one hand tied behind your back.

The real battle is won on retention

Recruiting is expensive; losing what you have recruited is more expensive still. Replacing an employee can reach 30 % of their annual salary, without counting the loss of expertise and the disruption. That is why 62 % of Belgian companies now make retention an HR priority. And this is precisely an SME's natural playing field. Where the new arrival in a large group is one payroll number among thousands, the one joining an SME can have visible impact, a direct relationship with the leader, real room for initiative. Carefully designed onboarding over the first months, clear prospects for progression, hands-on management that recognises the work: that is what keeps people, and that is what an SME can offer better than anyone, if it decides to.

A shortage is not endured, it is outflanked