Imec Policy
1 Purpose
As we continue our journey towards a smart and digital workplace by introducing a hybrid working model at imec, it is important that employees who regularly work from home have
a healthy and safe place to work both at the office and at home. Therefore, imec has decided to offer you support to set-up your home office in an ergonomic way. If you work from home on a regular basis, imec will intervene in the cost for purchasing a selection of ergonomic furniture (chair, desk) and/or ICT material (monitor, keyboard, mouse, headphone).
This policy outlines all rights and obligations of employees who make use of the home office support. If you decide to purchase any home office equipment with the financial support from imec, you accept the terms, conditions and provisions as outlined hereunder. Imec retains the right to review this policy at any time following changes in tax and social security legislation and/or considering imec’s financial situation. After a revision, users will be provided with an up-to-date version.
2 Who is eligible?
The home office support is open to all imec Belgium payroll employees with a permanent contract and an employment rate of at least 50% who commit to regularly1 work from home. By ordering home office support equipment via the dedicated webshop, you declare that you meet the criterium of regular homework and minimum employment rate. Imec may check this.
The entitlement to home office support does not apply to employees whose job requires them to be full-time on-site, or who prefer not to work from home (as they don’t need a home office to perform their job).
3 How does it work?
Imec has engaged the services of a specialized third-party provider (The Workspace Company) who offers ergonomic home office furniture and/or ICT material via a dedicated webshop.
In short, this is how it works:
- You purchase ergonomic furniture and/or ICT material via the dedicated webshop;
- Upon validation of your purchases in the shopping basket on the website, you can use your imec personal voucher (by selecting ‘Pay using E-wallet’) to deduct imec’s financial contribution from the total sales price. Note that you can check your balance in the “my account”-section of the webshop under “wallet”.
- Imec intervenes in the total sales price for a maximum of € 500 (incl VAT). Any surplus is paid directly by you to the provider via common online payment methods;
- You are not obliged to spend the full amount in 1 time, you can spend any remaining budget during one of the future purchase windows;
- The provider delivers your orders directly to your home address. 1 Working from home on a regular basis means on average 1 day per week.
For the avoidance of doubt: the sales agreement is between you and the provider. You are the owner of the purchased equipment, not imec.
4 Do I have to pay tax on this benefit?
From a legal perspective, setting-up your home workplace is in principle your own responsibility. This means that any support from imec, whether financial or in kind, is in principle (a) taxable (benefit). However, to support companies and employees in making the transition to hybrid working models, the Belgian government allows employers to make a tax- free financial contribution for the purchase of home office equipment if certain terms & conditions are met.
The imec terms & conditions have been based on the legal requirements to ensure that the financial contribution for your home office equipment is a net amount, free from any tax or social security contributions:
➢ You may only purchase 1 quantity of each item (1 chair, 1 desk, 1 monitor, ...). You are of course allowed to buy several different items, but you cannot purchase 2 different models of the same item.
o Example:
- you may only purchase 1 chair (not 2 chairs, even if you would choose 2 different chair models)
- you may purchase 1 chair + 1 table
- you may purchase 1 chair + 1 table + 1 monitor + 1 keyboard + 1 headphone
- ...
➢ The items you purchase are necessary to perform your professional activity at home in a normal, ergonomic responsible way. In other words: you must work from home on a regular basis.
➢ You may only purchase a new item of the same kind (with financial contribution from
imec) after a certain “assumed usage” period. For office furniture, this is 10 years; for
ICT material, this is 3 years.
o Example:
- if you purchase a chair in October 2021, you cannot purchase a new chair using an imec voucher, for the next 10 years;
- if you purchase a chair in October 2021, you can still purchase a table (using an imec voucher) in March 2022;
- If you purchase a keyboard in October 2021, you can only purchase a new keyboard as from October 2024;
- ...
For the sake of clarity: nothing prevents you from purchasing new furniture or ICT material within a shorter timeframe or in larger quantities at your own expense (via the The Workspace Company’s public webshop). The law only prohibits imec to provide financial compensation for more than 1 quantity per employee within a certain period.
5 Budget and prices
All prices in the webshop include VAT and free delivery to your home address in Belgium. Assembly is not included. Please contact the provider directly in case you would like assembly service. Any related cost will be at your expense.
The home office equipment budget offered by imec is 500 EUR incl VAT. The budget is personal and cannot be transferred, sold or exchanged.
The budget is offered to all imec Belgium payroll employees with a permanent contract and an employment rate of at least 50% whose job does not require them to be on-site fulltime. It is your responsibility to only make use of it in case you regularly work from home.
➢ You will be asked to confirm this via a pop-up in the webshop before you will be able to proceed to the webshop. Given the diversity within imec, we trust you to assess whether you meet these criteria. Note that if you do not meet the criteria, the imec financial contribution to your purchases will be considered as a taxable benefit and taxes will be withheld via payroll.
You are not obliged to spend the full amount in 1 time and can spend any remaining budget during one of the upcoming purchase windows. You can check your balance in “my account” in the imec webshop at The Workspace Company during any of the purchase windows.
6 When can I place orders in the webshop?
The webshop will be open for the first time from 15 October 2021 – 15 November 2021. Subsequently, the webshop will open twice a year for a period of 1 month: in spring and in autumn. A notification will be published on imec Teams before each shop opening.
The webshop manual with use instructions can be found on Employee Center.
7 Use of the home office equipment
The home office equipment purchased via The Workspace Company is your personal property and therefore, there are no specific rules on the use. Of course, as the goal is to offer you some financial support to set-up your home office in an ergonomic way, we assume that the equipment will be used to perform your professional activities at home in a normal way.
8 What happens if I leave imec?
As the home office equipment is your own personal property, you do not have to return anything to imec.
As per applicable law, imec’s financial contribution to the purchase of your home office equipment is only tax-free if you remain employed by imec during the full “assumed usage” time. The legal assumed usage time is defined as 10 years for furniture and 3 years for ICT equipment. In case your employment contract ends during the assumed usage time, the residual value of the furniture and equipment (only the part that was paid with imec budget) will be considered as a taxable benefit in kind subject to normal income tax rates and social security contributions.
The residual value is calculated based on a straight line depreciation over 10 years or 120 months for office furniture, and 3 years or 36 months for ICT material.
• Example 1:
o On 30 Oct 2021, you purchase an ergonomic chair
o Total sales price is € 350
➢ € 350 - € 350 (imec budget) = € 0 paid by you
o On 30 Oct 2026, you leave imec.
o Taxable residual value: € 350 – (€ 350 * 60/120) = € 175
➢ You will pay tax and social security contributions on an amount of € 175 (which means that you will pay +/- € 100).
• Example 2:
o On 30 Oct 2021, you purchase an ergonomic chair and a monitor
o Total sales price is € 200 for the monitor + € 400 for the chair = € 600
➢ € 600 - € 500 (imec budget) = € 100 paid by you
o On 30 October 2026, you leave imec.
o Taxable residual value: (€ 200 * 5/6 (part paid by imec) * 0/36 = € 0) + (€ 400 * 5/6 (part paid by imec) * 60/120) = € 166
➢ You will pay tax and social security contributions on an amount of € 166 (which means that you will pay +/- € 92)
9 What happens in case of temporary suspension of my employment contract?
As the home office equipment is your own personal property, any temporary suspension of your employment contract (due to long-term absence (illness, career break,...), short-term absence or otherwise) does not have an impact. The equipment remains your property. The same applies in case the employment rate changes to less than 50% after purchase of the equipment, and you can keep it.
10 What happens if my equipment gets damaged or lost, or I am not satisfied with the delivered product?
As the home office equipment is your own personal property, any damage / loss or return policy is subject to the provider’s policies. The sales agreement is between you and The Workspace Company. Therefore, imec cannot intervene in the purchase procedure.
In case of questions on the offered products, the ordering process, or the delivery, you can reach out to The Workspace Company directly:
• By phone: +32(0)51 806 803
• Via e-mail: helpdesk@theworkspacecompany.com
• Via the online chatbot in the webshop
11 Miscellaneous
If you do not duly respect the terms and conditions of this policy and this generates a drawback for imec, you are obliged to compensate imec for the damage. If one of the provisions of this policy were to be or to become null and void, this does not affect any of the other provisions which continue to apply in full.
12 Appendix - FAQ
12.1 Expenses
I. I already purchased home office equipment before this policy came into force. Can I get reimbursed via expense note?
No, this policy enters into force as from October 2021 and imec has decided to organise the home office support via an external partner instead of reimbursing upon expense note. During the covid-19 crisis, imec has granted a home working allowance of 3 x € 125 (in 2020 and early 2021) to support employees in the set-up and use of their home office. The goal of this policy is to support our employees who will continue to work from home on a regular basis in a sustainable way.
II. My job does not allow me to work from home, can I receive another form of compensation?
No, in the framework of hybrid working imec offers support in setting-up your home office because it is important that you have a healthy and safe place to work both at the office and at home. There is no compensation if this is not applicable to you.
However, all employees – whether you regularly work from home or not – enjoy imec discount rates at The Workspace Company.
III. Can I get reimbursed for other expenses I make related to remote working?
All employees on Belgian imec payroll (with minimum 50% employment) receive a fixed net expense allowance of €20 per month to compensate the work-related part of their internet subscription. There will be no additional reimbursement of office materials (printers, printing paper, ink cartridges, etc.), or fixed expenses (electricity, heating, etc.). Printing can be organized on campus when not working remotely.
12.2 Product catalogue and prices
IV. I found a similar monitor/chair/desk online. Can the provider adjust the price? Or can I purchase it from the online vendor where I found it and can imec reimburse me?
Unfortunately, that is not possible. Imec has decided to organise the home office support via an external partner instead of reimbursing upon expense note as they do not only offer a product but also related service. While The Workspace Company’s prices are very market competitive, it can never be excluded that you find the same product somewhere else at a cheaper price.
V. I want to purchase a printer. Can this be added to the catalogue?
As the goal is to support you in setting-up your home office in a healthy and ergonomic way, the product catalogue only contains home office equipment that meets the ergonomic criterium. Printing can be organized on campus when not working remotely.
VI. Why are a keyboard, mouse and headset included in the webshop while I already have received these items from imec?
As the goal is to support you in setting-up your home office in a healthy and ergonomic way, the product catalogue contains home office equipment that meets the ergonomic criterium. By offering a separate keyboard, mouse, and headset for your home office, you can avoid having to take these items with you and therefore travel lighter when switching from your home office to the imec office and vice versa.
VII. Can a laptop stand be added to the webshop?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. While we fully agree that this would be a very good idea and could help to increase the ergonomics of your home office, ensuring that imec’s financial contribution is tax-free for you as an employee is also an important factor. At present, a laptop stand is not mentioned on the list of items that an employer can reimburse tax-free for use in the employee’s home office.
VIII. I would like to order 2 monitors. Is this possible?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. While we fully agree that this would be a good idea and could help to increase the ergonomics of your home office, ensuring that imec’s financial contribution is tax-free for you as an employee is also an important factor. At present, the Belgian legislator allows an employer to only reimburse 1 monitor for use in the employee’s home office. There is a 34-inch monitor available in the webshop, which is a good alternative to copy your imec office situation at home if you are used to work on 2 screens.
12.3 Webshop functionality
IX. My access to the webshop expired. Can it be reactivated?
The webshop will be open during two timeframes of 4 weeks each on an annual basis (once in Spring and once in Autumn, exact timings will be communicated in due time). You will have access again during those timeframes.
12.4 Imec budget
X. My monitor is malfunctioning after 1 year of use, can I order a new monitor?
As the home office equipment is your own personal property, any damage / loss or return policy is subject to the provider’s policies.
XI. My home office is fully equipped, and I don’t need anything additional at this moment. Is there a deadline by when I must make use of the imec home office support offer?
There is no deadline by which you must make use of this offer. As long as you remain employed by imec, you can make use of the offer during any of the purchase windows.