Zora Health / Employer guide / Belgium
Support your experienced employees through menopause, and help them stay at their best.
More than half of Belgian working women with menopause symptoms say those symptoms hinder their work, and only 8% feel able to discuss it with their employer. Zora Health helps you build practical menopause support, from workplace policies and manager training to confidential care navigation and access to 128+ partner clinics in 16 countries, around your workforce and budget. Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with us.
Book an employer consultation Explore the cost calculator
Five things Belgian HR leaders should know
- In a Securex and Ghent University survey of 2,408 female employees, 87.6% had experienced menopause symptoms.
- 55.3% of working women with current symptoms said symptoms hindered their work, and women with symptoms were absent more often.
- Only 8% said they could discuss menopause with their employer.
- 57.1% of women aged 55 to 64 were in work in 2025, below the EU average of 60.8%.
- Employers pay guaranteed salary for the first 30 days of sick leave, and new reintegration rules apply from 1 January 2026.
Why menopause is a business problem for employers
Menopause rarely announces itself at work. It looks like a senior manager who slept four hours, a wave of heat in the middle of a client meeting, a word that will not come in front of the board. Symptoms come and go for years. Many women do not link them to menopause, and fewer tell their manager.
So the cost stays out of your reports. It shows up instead as:
- Work hindered. In a Securex and UGent survey of 2,408 female employees, 55.3% of women with current symptoms said symptoms hindered their work (VRT NWS, May 2023).
- More absence. Women with symptoms were absent from work more often than women without.
- Hard to talk about. About a quarter said they could not discuss menopause with their employer, and only 8% said they could.
- Near universal. 87.6% of the women surveyed had experienced symptoms, now or in the past.
What employers gain
Keep the people who know how your business runs
Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary, according to Gallup. Only 57.1% of Belgian women aged 55 to 64 were in work in 2025 (Eurostat), so keeping experienced women in work matters. A written policy, trained managers and quick access to the right doctor can help address barriers that contribute to employee attrition.
Stand out to experienced women
With only 8% of women able to discuss menopause with their employer, a clear offer, explained in your benefits pack, stands out to senior women weighing their next move.
Make menopause support financially predictable
Aon projects Belgium’s medical trend at 11.9% for 2026, or 9.8% after inflation, one of the highest in Europe (Aon, 2026 report). Employers pay the first 30 days of sick leave, so earlier care also protects your own costs.
Zora helps employers set an annual allowance or top-up around compulsory health insurance and your hospitalisation plan, so HR can run the programme within an agreed budget. The benefit works alongside your existing insurance.
Want to see what this would look like for your Belgian workforce?
What menopause care costs, and what the state pays
Employees are covered by compulsory health insurance through their mutual insurer. Many employers add hospitalisation or outpatient insurance.
| Item | Public support | What the employee still carries |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist menopause consultation | Not yet funded; a December 2025 Chamber resolution calls for a fully covered long consultation for women aged 45 to 65 | Consultation fees, less any reimbursement |
| Time off for appointments | Employer pays guaranteed salary for the first 30 days; the mutual insurer then pays 60% of capped gross salary in the first year | The gap to full pay after day 30 |
| Certificate-free sick days | Cut from 3 to 2 a year from 1 January 2026 | Medical certificates for other absences |
From the Chamber of Representatives, socialsecurity.be and Bird & Bird. We could not confirm patient co-payments or HRT reimbursement. These are published examples, not guaranteed current prices: actual costs depend on cover, clinic, doctor and treatment, so confirm fees with the provider before budgeting.
Only 8% of Belgian women surveyed said they could discuss menopause with their employer.
We have found no menopause workplace law in Belgium, but Parliament is debating better menopause care. For employers, the practical opportunity is to help employees recognise their symptoms, understand their options and reach appropriate clinical advice sooner.
Menopause support that fits your workforce and budget
You do not need to overhaul your existing health insurance to support employees through menopause. Start with awareness and manager education, add confidential one-to-one support, or introduce a fuller programme across your offices. There is no minimum company size.
Where included in the employer programme, eligible employees can use talks and care navigation without paying Zora a separate fee. Care navigation allowances are set in each proposal. Treatment and other third-party costs are paid separately, either by employees or through the allowance their employer provides.
Companies starting the conversation
Essentials
Expert-led talks for employees and managers, menopause policy templates, manager guides and full access to the Zora app. Up to 2 talks a year.
Employees supported one to one
Navigation
Everything in Essentials, plus confidential one-to-one care navigation and access to our partner clinic network.
Large teams across countries
Complete
Everything in Navigation, plus quarterly anonymised reporting, a dedicated account manager and scheduled review meetings with HR.
Optional add-ons can be added to any programme, subject to availability: hormone diagnostics and telehealth with specialists. Pricing is tailored to your headcount, your countries and the services you choose. Most companies start with a single talk.
Request a proposal See how Zora works for employers
Comparing menopause benefit providers? Use our RFP question bank
Our question bank has 40 questions for multi-country benefits teams, with why each one matters, what a good answer looks like and a scoring sheet for three providers. Six of the questions for menopause support in Belgium:
- Is menopause support included as standard, or only fertility?
- What access do employees get to menopause specialists and hormone testing, and how quickly?
- How does the programme support reintegration and adjustments under the 2026 sick leave rules?
- Do you provide fertility and menopause policy templates for our markets?
- How can an employee get help confidentially without telling their manager?
- What individual-level data does HR see?
Your download link appears as soon as you submit. Zora Health may contact you about employee benefits; see our privacy policy.
Plan your menopause benefit budget
Menopause care allowance planner
Model the annual claims budget for a menopause care allowance. Change any number.
This is a claims budget, not a Zora quotation. Zora’s programme fees, implementation and optional services are separate.
It estimates the annual budget for a menopause care allowance from your eligible workforce, expected utilisation and allowance per employee, and assumes each user claims the full allowance. Eligible employees defaults to 15% as a stand-in for women aged 45 and over; use your own headcount data. The default allowance of €500 is an illustrative figure for private consultations, tests and treatment. Utilisation is an editable assumption, not observed Zora data. For a proposal covering both programme costs and employee benefits, request an employer proposal.
Estimate the potential workforce impact of menopause symptoms
A rough planning scenario. It applies a published estimate to your headcount, so it is not a prediction for your workforce, a measured loss or a forecast of savings from any programme.
Range: €27,282 to €82,583 a year, depending on replacement cost.
Assumptions: 13.4% of working women aged 45 to 60 reported at least one adverse work outcome due to menopause symptoms, and those who missed work lost a median of 3 days a year (Faubion et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2023). This was a US clinic sample, so treat it as a rough benchmark for Belgium. The default salary is the 2022 full-time average gross monthly salary of €4,076 multiplied by 12, the latest figure we could confirm. Use your own. Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary (Gallup, 2019); the headline uses the low end. Absence is valued at salary divided by 250 working days. Exit rate is your own assumption.
Already have corporate health insurance? Here is where Zora fits
Your medical plan may cover some consultations and treatment. Employees still need to recognise their symptoms, understand their options and find a doctor who knows menopause care, and many never get that far.
Zora works alongside your existing insurance and benefits. We help employees get reliable information, navigate their care options and reach suitable specialists, and we give HR manager training, policy templates and, on the Complete programme, anonymised reporting. You strengthen menopause support without replacing your medical plan.
How Zora works
For your employees
Employees join the Zora app with a company code, or single sign-on for larger teams. They can learn about perimenopause and menopause, understand what your benefit covers, book a confidential care navigation call and find partner doctors and specialists.
For HR
- Kick-off, week 1. Agree goals, countries and which employees are eligible.
- Policy and benefit design, weeks 2 to 4. Draft or update your menopause policy and flexible work guidance using our templates.
- Launch, typically weeks 4 to 6. A launch talk for employees and managers, plus a communications pack for HR to send.
- Live support. Employees book care navigation calls and use the Zora app.
- Reporting, every 3 months, on the Complete programme. Anonymised usage, common themes and our recommendations, reviewed with your account manager.
Privacy
On the Complete programme, HR receives anonymised, aggregated reports only: how many employees used the programme, which services they used and the common themes. On every programme, HR never sees an individual employee’s health information, bookings or test results, and employees can get help without telling their manager. Employee data is stored on Amazon Web Services in Singapore and handled in line with Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act.
Clinics and doctors in Belgium
Zora’s clinic and doctor directory does not list providers in Belgium yet. It lists 421 clinics and 1,185 doctors across 25 countries, mostly in Asia Pacific and the Middle East (browse clinics or browse doctors). Employees in Belgium can still use Zora’s education and the Zora app. Ask us how your team in Belgium would use Zora before you launch. See Zora’s employer guides for every country.
Rules and eligibility in Belgium
Guaranteed salary
The employer guarantees salary for the first 30 days of incapacity. After that, the mutual insurer pays 60% of capped gross salary in the first year (socialsecurity.be).
New sick leave rules
The relapse period without new guaranteed salary rises from 14 days to 8 weeks, certificate-free sick days fall from 3 to 2 a year, and the company doctor must assess work potential after 8 weeks of sick leave (Bird & Bird).
Chamber resolution
Resolution DOC 56 1288/001 calls for a long specialist (peri)menopause consultation for women aged 45 to 65, fully covered by compulsory health insurance, plus awareness campaigns and better training for health professionals (Chamber of Representatives).
EU strategy and a new standard
The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026 to 2030 includes menopause, with a study planned for 2028, and European trade unions launched a campaign for EU menopause-at-work legislation in October 2026 (Euronews). ISO 45010, published in September 2026, gives guidance on menstruation and menopause in the workplace, including risk assessment and individual adjustments (ecnews.it).
Why employers choose Zora
Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with Zora Health. We work alongside your existing insurance, helping employees use the cover they already have and find suitable doctors and specialists based on their needs.
Zora Health helped me to reclaim my confidence to thrive at work!
Questions HR teams ask us
Do Belgian employers have to give menopause leave?
No. There is no menopause leave. Employees use sick leave, holiday or flexible arrangements unless their employer offers more.
Who pays sick pay in Belgium?
The employer pays guaranteed salary for the first 30 days. The mutual insurer then pays 60% of capped gross salary in the first year.
How does menopause affect work in Belgium?
In a Securex and UGent survey of 2,408 female employees, 55.3% of those with symptoms said symptoms hindered their work.
What changed for sick leave in 2026?
Certificate-free sick days fell from 3 to 2 a year, the relapse period rose to 8 weeks and reintegration checks start after 8 weeks.
Is a menopause consultation covered in Belgium?
Not yet. A December 2025 Chamber resolution calls for a fully covered specialist consultation for women aged 45 to 65.
Does Zora replace our health insurance?
No. Zora works alongside your insurance. We help employees understand their options, find suitable specialists and use the cover they already have.
How much does menopause support cost an employer?
It depends on the programme, any allowance and expected uptake. Use the budget planner on this page for a first estimate, then ask us for a tailored proposal based on your headcount and countries.
How quickly can we launch?
Typically 4 to 6 weeks from contract to launch, depending on scope and countries. Most companies start with a single talk.
Related guides for Belgian employers
Build a menopause support programme for your team
Whether you are introducing menopause benefits for the first time or improving an existing programme, tell us your headcount, countries and priorities. We will come back within two working days with suitable services, an indicative budget and a practical rollout plan for your Belgian team. No obligation.
Sources
- VRT NWS, Securex and UGent survey of 2,408 female employees, May 2023
- Eurostat, Employment rates by sex and age, 2025
- DH, Statbel average full-time salary 2022, September 2024
- socialsecurity.be, Incapacity for work
- Bird & Bird, Belgium sick leave rules from 1 January 2026
- Chamber of Representatives, Resolution DOC 56 1288/001, December 2025
- Aon, Global Medical Trend Rates Report 2026
- Euronews, Trade unions call for EU law on menopause at work, 17 October 2026
- ecnews.it, ISO 45010 on menstruation and menopause in the workplace, September 2026
- Gallup, This fixable problem costs US businesses $1 trillion, 2019
- Mayo Clinic News Network, Faubion et al., Impact of menopause symptoms on women in the workplace, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, April 2023