From bpost to RSC Anderlecht via Ontex, Trixxo or Mestdagh, the waltz of the CEOs seems hellish lately. Last year, the Manager of the Year, Sébastien Dossogne, changed house, from Magotteaux to Carmeuse. And Pascal Laffineur, candidate for the same title of Manager but 2022 edition, left NRB. Has this strategic function within companies suddenly become more fragile? “This trend is not new, it has been in effect for twenty years, underlines Jan Denys (Randstad), labor market expert. Many companies now work with four-year mandates.

From bpost to RSC Anderlecht via Ontex, Trixxo or Mestdagh, the waltz of the CEOs seems hellish lately. Last year, the Manager of the Year, Sébastien Dossogne, changed house, from Magotteaux to Carmeuse. And Pascal Laffineur, candidate for the same title of Manager but 2022 edition, left NRB. Has this strategic function within companies suddenly become more fragile? “This trend is not new, it has been in effect for twenty years, underlines Jan Denys (Randstad), labor market expert. Many companies now work with terms of four or five years, which can be renewed. once. The criteria for evaluating CEOs have also been tightened. All of this leads to shorter careers.” The current situation, the consequences of covid and the war in Ukraine, as well as the major challenge of the energy transition or the need to adapt business models, are not unrelated to this weakening either. “Some sectors change very quickly, confirms Jan Denys. After globalization, the challenges have multiplied in recent years. The context is more and more complex. CEOs burn their wings more quickly. Mobility is greater, in their chief as in that of the workers.” Because if the choices sometimes come from the company, they are also the fruit of the CEOs themselves: “Companies are more vigilant, it’s true, but the CEOs are also making more ambitious plans, with the desire to to multiply the experiments”, underlines Jan Denys. That being said, Belgium remains a pole of stability in this changing world. This is illustrated by the annual studies carried out by the Heidrick & Struggles office on the CEOs of the Bel20. The average duration of occupation as CEO within the Bel20 varies from 9.2 years to 11.1 years, summarizes its authors, but Belgium is illustrated in any case each year by very widespread results – even the most high in the sample – in comparison with other countries. In 2021, Heidrick & Struggles commented: “Bel20 CEOs are also the most ‘loyal’ to their company. On average, they occupy this position for 11.1 years while the average duration at the global level is only 6 .6 years”. In 2022, the feverishness was more perceptible, but in a proportion that remained measured: “Belgium is one of only four markets (along with Canada, Hong Kong and Italy) to have experienced growth in the number of appointments since the previous report. Of the 22 CEOs of the Bel20, 23% of them retained their position during the past year. A direct result of these newly made appointments is, quite logically, a drop in the average duration of occupation in as CEO. Traditionally high criterion in Belgium, this figure goes from 11.1 (for 2021) to 9.7 years (for 2022). Mexico is the only country that exceeds the score of Belgium, with 10.6 years (for an overall average of 6.8 years)”. For a CEO, Belgium remains, overall, a haven of peace.