VUB puts wellbeing centre stage with new Employee Assistance Programme for employees
Brussels, 29 May 2026 - The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is launching a new Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for its employees. With the initiative, the university aims to embed well-being even more strongly within its organisational culture. The programme offers employees free, confidential and low-threshold support for both professional and personal challenges. The most striking new feature is that VUB employees can turn to an external partner for psychological counselling, practical support and crisis assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The offer is completely confidential and funded by the university.
According to Director of People & Organisation Elke Jorens, the initiative fits within a broader vision of sustainable working and functioning well within a complex and rapidly changing society.
"We want to put well-being explicitly at the centre. Not as something incidental, but as an essential part of functioning well," says Jorens. "We expect a university to offer excellent education and research. But that cannot be separated from the people who make that work possible every day."
Accessible support for all employees
Through the EAP, employees can get support on a variety of topics such as stress, burn-out complaints, work-life balance, relational problems, grief or major changes. Managers can also make use of the service as an external sparring partner in difficult situations within their team.
The VUB deliberately chooses a structural and scalable model that is quickly accessible, without long waiting lists.
"When people seek psychological help today, they often encounter long waiting times," says Jorens. "With this programme, we want to lower that threshold and ensure that employees find support quickly when they need it."
Well-being as part of the organisational culture
With the new programme, the VUB also wants to contribute to a culture in which well-being becomes discussable and preventive support is taken for granted.
Elke Jorens: "Organisations today are constantly faced with change. People constantly have to adapt to new expectations, technologies and social evolutions. That requires a lot of energy. That is why we think it is important that employees and managers know they are not alone. People can also seek help with minor difficulties or when they need guidance. Seeking support does not mean you are weak. On the contrary: it shows that you take responsibility for yourself and your performance," concludes Elke Jorens.
Tineke Sonck
