Federgon, the Belgian Federation of Staffing Agencies, has developed a platform that now allows temporary employment contracts to be signed electronically.

Eventually, the temporary contract paper will disappear completely, according to Federgon. The federation states that electronic temporary contracts are an important step towards the democratization of digitisation and it benefits both temporary workers as well as temporary businesses.

"Workers can indeed easily sign labour contracts with their smartphone, tablet or computer, from a single sectoral platform,” Ann Cattelain, director of the legal department in Federgon and coordinator of the electronic contract project, said. “With a personal password for the entire sector, the temporary worker can not only sign their electronic employment contracts, but also on the platform, a list of all of the labour contracts with all companies for which the temporary worker has worked with.”

“For temporary work agencies, electronic contracts mean a lot less paperwork,” Cattelain said. “A 'timestamp' that records precisely the date and time of sending and signing the contract, legal certainty is much greater for all parties. The temporary work sector has a pioneering role in this matter.”