Five months after Comet Meetings Louise opened, the company makes the case for in-person meetings as an antidote to the demotivation and isolation of Belgian workers.
Five months after the launch of Comet Meetings Louise, the company is delighted that Brussels turned out for the opening, despite health restrictions. With Blue Monday approaching, Comet Meetings argues that occasional face-to-face meetings are crucial opportunities for employees to keep a social bond with their colleagues and, in doing so, to fight the demotivation and sense of isolation that loom in this time of distancing.
Belgian morale at rock bottom
Blue Monday falls on 17 January this year. The term refers to the day of the year when employees are said to feel most depressed. Beyond the concept itself, which owes more to a marketing campaign than to scientific study, it has to be said that the start of 2022 feels particularly bleak to many Belgian workers. Between compulsory remote work that undermines team cohesion, the lack of any clear end to the pandemic and gloomy weather, Belgians have every reason to lose their motivation at work. Comet Meetings arrived in Brussels last September, opening a venue dedicated to corporate meetings and seminars in the Louise district. The aim is also to pull employees out of their routine with a refreshing setting that invites them to travel, wellness activities and enjoyable lunches, in order to lift company spirits. After two years that shook up the rules of work and highlighted the importance of social ties between colleagues, Comet Meetings finds that it has never been more important for Belgian workers to get together. 8 in 10 Belgians say they want more in-person meetings so they can be with their colleagues, according to the survey the company ran with Ivox. Only 11%, in that same study, prefer virtual meetings.
Victor Carreau, CEO and co-founder of Comet Meetings: "At Comet Meetings, the many comments from our clients show us that Belgians have probably never needed to meet in person as much as they do now, without falling into meeting overload. Participants leave our seminars with more motivation, more energy and more cohesion at the end of the day than when they arrived, simply because they were able to be together physically with colleagues and share both formal and informal moments. There is a real lack of interaction that several studies point to, showing employee motivation at its lowest. According to figures from the INAMI, the number of Belgians suffering from burnout or depression has risen by around 10% in one year. That is why separating remote and on-site work today, and making the most of both, has become a key issue for our companies."
More than 10,000 Belgians already won over by Comet Meetings
The first months of Comet Meetings in Belgium have been positive. The company set out to bring its expertise to a working world facing profound change. Victor Carreau comments: "Some experts predicted at the start of the pandemic that the future of work would be 100% digital. At Comet, we always believed it would be hybrid. For a company, it is essential that everyone can come together and share more relaxed moments too. Standing at the coffee machine, you have informal conversations which, far from being trivial, are essential parts of corporate life."
That realisation, shared by many companies, largely explains the success of Comet Meetings despite the restrictions on remote work. The venue recorded more than 250 corporate events (meetings, seminars, gatherings) and welcomed over 10,000 Belgian clients in less than five months. "Opening a venue in Brussels in the middle of a pandemic was an ambitious challenge, and we rose to it. Far from stopping us, Covid was paradoxically an accelerator for our business. This first assessment confirms our ambition to transform the world of the office in Europe and to become the European leader in urban meetings by 2024. Our next step will take us to Madrid, where we will open a new venue ideally located in the capital, during 2022," concludes Victor Carreau.
