The leading interim agencies in Belgium, ranked
Interim work is the one route that Belgian law expressly carves out of the prohibition on hiring out workers. That makes licensed agencies the default answer for temporary, seasonal and project staffing — and it makes the choice of agency a compliance decision, not just a commercial one.
Why interim work is legally different
The Act of 24 July 1987 prohibits placing your employees at a third party’s disposal where that party exercises employer authority — and then names temporary agency work as the exception. A licensed agency may employ a worker and place them with a user company that directs the work day to day. That is precisely the structure Article 31 otherwise forbids.
Three consequences follow. First, the agency must hold a licence issued by the region where the work happens: Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia operate separate regimes. Second, agency work has permitted grounds of use — replacing an absent employee, a temporary increase in work, exceptional work, and defined pathways to permanent hiring — and using it outside those grounds is not lawful just because an agency issued the contract. Third, agency workers are subject to equal treatment: pay and conditions must match what the user company pays its own staff in comparable roles, not the agency’s own scales.
If you want permanent staff rather than temporary cover, agency work is the wrong instrument and you should look at EOR providers or your own NSSO registration instead. See also: is EOR legal in Belgium?
| # | Agency | Score | Ownership | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Randstad Belgium | 8.8 | Randstad Group (NL) | Volume hiring, national coverage |
| 2 | Accent Jobs | 8.5 | Belgian, Roeselare | Blue-collar and technical, Flanders |
| 3 | Daoust | 8.2 | Belgian family business | Brussels and Wallonia, bilingual roles |
| 4 | Adecco Belgium | 8.0 | Adecco Group (CH) | Multinational clients, HR outsourcing |
| 5 | Manpower Belgium | 7.8 | ManpowerGroup (US) | Industrial, logistics, engineering |
| 6 | Konvert | 7.6 | Belgian, Kortrijk | Manufacturing and construction |
| 7 | Tempo-Team | 7.4 | Randstad Group | Office, retail, contact centre |
| 8 | Start People | 7.2 | Recruit Group (JP) | Logistics, healthcare, public sector |
| 9 | Synergie Belgium | 6.9 | Synergie (FR) | Wallonia, cross-border French work |
| 10 | Vivaldis Interim | 6.7 | Belgian | SMEs, regional Flanders |
Agency pricing works differently from EOR. You pay a coefficient applied to the worker’s gross hourly rate — typically somewhere around 1.6 to 2.0 depending on sector, volume and risk — which bundles social security, holiday pay, the 13th month where applicable, and the agency’s margin. There is no monthly per-employee fee to compare, so the only meaningful comparison is the coefficient plus what it does and does not include. Always ask for the coefficient in writing and ask explicitly which costs sit outside it.
Randstad Belgium
The largest agency operating in Belgium and the safest default for volume or multi-site hiring. Randstad holds licences across all three regions, runs branch coverage in Dutch and French, and has the administrative machinery — DIMONA declarations, joint committee mapping, indexation, Dimona and social secretariat integration — to handle scale without the client noticing. You will not get the keenest coefficient, and account attention on a small assignment can be thin.
- Coverage in all three regions with licences to match
- Deepest administrative capacity of any agency here
- Strong candidate database across white- and blue-collar
- Established processes for equal-pay benchmarking against your own scales
- Also offers payrolling, RPO and outplacement
- Rarely the cheapest coefficient
- Small assignments can get limited account attention
- Process-driven rather than flexible on unusual requirements
- Licences
- Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia
- Pricing
- Coefficient on gross hourly rate
- Also offers
- Payrolling, RPO, outplacement
Accent Jobs
The strongest Belgian-owned alternative to the internationals, and the one most consistently praised on speed of placement for technical and blue-collar roles. Accent built its model around dense local branch coverage and a stated focus on converting interim placements into permanent contracts, which suits employers using agency work as a trial-to-hire route rather than pure cover. Flanders is its heartland; Wallonia coverage is lighter.
- Consistently fast placement for technical and blue-collar roles
- Dense local branch network in Flanders
- Explicit interim-to-permanent orientation, which fits the legal grounds for that use
- Belgian-owned, so decisions are made locally
- Weaker coverage in Wallonia and Brussels than Flanders
- Less suited to senior white-collar recruitment
- Smaller international reach if you need coordination across borders
- Licences
- Confirm regional coverage for your work location
- Strength
- Technical, industrial, trial-to-hire
- Ownership
- Belgian
Daoust
The best choice if your work sits in Brussels or Wallonia, or if roles genuinely need French and Dutch. Daoust is one of the oldest Belgian HR businesses, family-owned rather than group-owned, and its centre of gravity is exactly where the international agencies are thinnest. For bilingual Brussels roles, where language obligations on employment documents are a real trap, that local grounding is worth more than scale.
- Strongest Brussels and Wallonia coverage in this list
- Genuinely bilingual operation, which matters for document-language compliance
- Long-established family business with stable account relationships
- Broad service range including household services and care
- Smaller than the internationals, so less capacity for large volume spikes
- Lighter presence in parts of Flanders
- Limited value if you need coordination outside Belgium
- Licences
- Brussels and Wallonia focus; confirm Flanders
- Strength
- Bilingual Brussels roles, Wallonia
- Ownership
- Belgian, family-held
Adecco Belgium
A solid national operator and the natural fit if your company already uses Adecco elsewhere and wants one framework agreement covering several countries. Its wider services — payrolling, managed service programmes, HR outsourcing — make it useful where staffing is part of a larger outsourcing arrangement. Locally it rarely outperforms Randstad or the Belgian specialists on either speed or price.
- Multi-country framework agreements if Belgium is one of several markets
- Broad service portfolio beyond placement
- Reliable national coverage and compliance processes
- Seldom the fastest or cheapest on a purely Belgian brief
- Global account structures can slow local decisions
- Less specialised than the Belgian sector players
- Licences
- National coverage; confirm by region
- Strength
- Multinational clients, MSP and outsourcing
Manpower Belgium
Manpower is strongest where the work is industrial, logistical or technical, and it has a long operating history in Belgium. The specialist brands within the group give access to engineering and professional profiles that general agencies struggle to source. Office and retail staffing is competently done but not distinctive.
- Deep industrial, logistics and engineering candidate pools
- Specialist group brands for technical and professional roles
- Long Belgian operating history and stable processes
- Generalist office and retail offering is unremarkable
- Coefficients tend to sit mid to high
- Regional branch density lower than Randstad or Accent
- Licences
- National coverage; confirm by region
- Strength
- Industrial, logistics, engineering
Konvert
A well-regarded Belgian agency with genuine strength in manufacturing, construction and technical trades, concentrated in West and East Flanders. If your site is in that corridor, Konvert’s local candidate relationships are a real advantage over a national brand working from a database. It also offers its own interim-management and recruitment arms.
- Strong manufacturing, construction and trades placement
- Excellent local candidate relationships in West and East Flanders
- Belgian-owned with quick local decision-making
- Regionally concentrated; thin outside Flanders
- Limited white-collar and senior recruitment depth
- No international coordination
- Licences
- Flanders focus; confirm for other regions
- Strength
- Manufacturing, construction, trades
Tempo-Team
Positioned within the Randstad group as the more service-oriented, office-and-retail-facing brand, with the same underlying compliance infrastructure. That combination — group-grade administration, lighter-touch commercial approach — suits mid-sized employers filling clerical, retail and contact-centre roles who found the flagship brand heavier than they needed.
- Group-level compliance and payroll infrastructure behind a lighter brand
- Good fit for office, retail and contact-centre roles
- Reasonable coefficients for mid-volume assignments
- Industrial and technical depth weaker than Manpower or Konvert
- Overlaps with its sister brand, so clarify which entity contracts
- Less distinctive positioning than the specialists
- Licences
- National coverage; confirm by region
- Strength
- Office, retail, contact centre
Start People
A competent, broad-based agency with useful footholds in logistics, healthcare and public-sector work — the last of which involves procurement and framework rules that many agencies handle badly. Its profile is less sharply defined than the agencies above it, which is the main reason for the placement rather than any specific weakness.
- Genuine public-sector and healthcare staffing experience
- Strong logistics and warehousing pools
- Backed by a large international parent group
- Less distinctive positioning than higher-ranked agencies
- Branch density varies noticeably by region
- Public pricing guidance is limited
- Licences
- National coverage; confirm by region
- Strength
- Logistics, healthcare, public sector
Synergie Belgium
Most useful where the work is in Wallonia or straddles the French border, since the group’s French network makes cross-border sourcing and posting arrangements more straightforward than for a Belgium-only agency. Outside that specific case it is a mid-tier generalist rather than a first choice.
- Cross-border sourcing and posting between France and Wallonia
- Solid Wallonia branch presence
- Competitive coefficients in its core sectors
- Limited Flanders coverage and Dutch-language depth
- Mid-tier generalist outside its cross-border niche
- Smaller Belgian candidate base than the leaders
- Licences
- Wallonia focus; confirm elsewhere
- Strength
- Wallonia, France cross-border
Vivaldis Interim
A smaller Belgian agency built around serving SMEs, where the deciding factor is usually a named contact who answers the phone rather than breadth of database. For a company placing a handful of people a year in regional Flanders, that is often the right trade. For anything at scale or multi-region, look higher up the list.
- Responsive, named-contact service for smaller employers
- Good regional Flanders coverage for SMEs
- Belgian-owned, straightforward commercial terms
- Not built for volume or multi-site assignments
- Narrower sector and candidate reach
- Limited Brussels and Wallonia presence
- Licences
- Flanders focus; confirm elsewhere
- Strength
- SMEs, regional Flanders
How to check an agency before you sign
- Ask for the licence, by region. Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia license separately and the licence must cover the place of work, not the agency’s head office.
- Confirm the ground of use. Agency work is permitted for specified reasons — replacing an absent employee, a temporary increase in work, exceptional work, or an interim-to-permanent pathway. Write down which applies to your assignment.
- Get the coefficient in writing, with inclusions. A low coefficient that excludes ecocheques, meal vouchers or a sectoral 13th month is not cheaper, it is differently invoiced.
- Check equal pay against your own scales. The agency worker’s pay must match what you pay comparable staff. Getting this wrong produces back-pay claims against you.
- Confirm the joint committee. Agency work has its own committee, but the sectoral terms of the user’s committee feed into the worker’s entitlements.
- Check Federgon membership. Membership of the sector federation is not a legal requirement, but it is a reasonable proxy for an agency that engages with the regulatory framework.
Interim or EOR? The distinction is the duration and the reason
Agency work is designed for temporary needs and comes with permitted grounds of use. If you want to employ someone in Belgium indefinitely, agency work is the wrong instrument — and an EOR arrangement has its own Article 31 question to answer.
Compare EOR providers in Belgium
Or read is EOR legal in Belgium? for how the two routes differ in law.
Frequently asked questions
What is a coefficient and what should it include?
The coefficient is the multiplier applied to the worker’s gross hourly wage to produce your invoice. It typically covers employer social security, holiday pay, public holidays, the sectoral 13th month where one applies, and the agency’s margin. Rates commonly sit somewhere between about 1.6 and 2.0 depending on sector, risk and volume. Two quotes are only comparable once you know what each excludes — meal vouchers, ecocheques, travel allowances and insurance are the usual variables.
How long can someone stay on an interim contract?
There is no single universal cap — it depends on the ground of use. Replacing a named absent employee lasts as long as the absence. A temporary increase in work requires prior agreement with the trade union delegation and has its own limits. The interim-to-permanent route is explicitly time-limited. Continuing an assignment after its ground has lapsed is where problems start.
Does the agency worker get the same pay as our own staff?
Yes. Equal treatment means the agency worker’s pay and conditions must correspond to what you pay your own employees in a comparable role, including sectoral scales and premiums. You provide the benchmark; the agency applies it. If you understate your own scales, the resulting shortfall is your exposure.
Can we use an interim agency instead of an EOR to avoid Article 31?
For genuinely temporary work, yes — that is exactly what the exception is for, and it is the cleanest structure available. But it does not work as a workaround for permanent employment: agency work requires a permitted ground of use, and an open-ended placement with no qualifying reason is not made lawful by routing it through a licensed agency.
Do agency workers count towards our works council thresholds?
Agency workers are counted for social elections purposes in defined circumstances, and the user company has information obligations towards its works council or CPPT. If you are near a threshold, take advice rather than assuming agency staff are invisible to it.
Is payrolling the same as interim work?
No, and the difference matters in Belgium. Payrolling generally means the client sources the worker and a third party employs and pays them — which puts you straight back into the Article 31 question, because the client is directing someone another company employs. Interim work involves the agency sourcing and employing under its licence. Ask which one a provider is actually offering.
Sources
Reviewed September 2026. General information, not legal advice. Agency rankings reflect our assessment of publicly available information, service breadth and regional fit; they are not endorsements and no agency paid for placement.
Official Belgian sources
- Act of 24 July 1987 — temporary work, temporary agency work and hiring out workers
- FPS Employment — Hiring out of workers
- VDAB (Flanders), Le Forem (Wallonia), Actiris (Brussels) — regional agency licensing
- Joint committees and collective agreements
- NSSO / RSZ / ONSS — contributions and DIMONA
Other sources
- Federgon — federation of HR service providers.
- Agencies’ own public websites and service pages, accessed September 2026.