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For employers

Student job Belgium: hire packers by the hour

Mid-November, two pallets of promotional packaging are waiting to go out on Friday, your permanent crew is already running at full capacity and the orders keep coming in. If you want to hire student packers for exactly those weeks, you get screened students on your line and no extra personnel administration.

  • Screened students
  • Contracts, Dimona and payroll handled
  • Offices in Antwerp and Brussels
  • Licensed staffing agency
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Covering packing work without fixed contracts

Packing sets your lead time and it is also the task that fluctuates most. One week the line runs at half capacity, the next everything has to go out at once. We deploy student workers across the whole packing job: finishing and sealing orders, applying labels and customs stickers, assembling promotional packs and displays, opening and checking returns and putting them back into stock, and keeping the dispatch area in order. You decide the days, the hours and the number of hands. The student employment contract, the Dimona declaration, payroll and the occupational accident insurance all run through us, with one point of contact and one invoice.

Why us

Why companies choose packers through Recruit a Student

Available by the hour

You hire the hours you actually need to cover: the evening shift in peak weeks, the Saturday of a campaign, the days around a large dispatch. No fixed contract for work that rises and falls.

Screened in advance

Our recruiters assess pace, accuracy and the ability to follow a work instruction. Anyone who does not meet your packing standard does not end up on your line.

Short lead times

We work with a standing pool, so you do not have to publish a vacancy. We often present candidates within a few days who start the same week.

Fully taken care of

Contracts, Dimona, time registration, payroll calculation, contributions and insurance are ours. Your team leader keeps time for planning on the floor.

Our services

Our services: packers for your warehouse floor

Packing and preparing orders for dispatch

Packing products, adding protective material, sealing boxes and applying shipping labels. The student works to your packing instruction, which we go through beforehand.

Labelling, repacking and weighing

Applying labels, price stickers and country-specific markings, repacking batches into another format and weighing parcels before dispatch. Exactly the work that piles up once the line is full.

Promotions, displays and packaging campaigns

Assembling campaign packs, building displays, bundling sets and finishing seasonal boxes. For a single campaign week, a full promotional period or the run-up to the end-of-year sales.

Returns handling and stock checks

Opening returns, assessing them, repacking and booking them back into your system, and helping with an interim stock count. This is the work that weighs heaviest in January.

How it works

How does hiring a packer through Recruit a Student work?

  1. Request

    In an introductory meeting we discuss your situation, map the need and advise on a suitable, flexible deployment of students.

  2. Selection and matching

    Our recruiters screen thoroughly on skills and motivation and select suitable students from our pool.

  3. Match and fast deployment

    Within a few days we propose flexible candidates, and thanks to our pool students can often start the same week.

  4. Ongoing support

    Our students are well prepared, you determine the introduction and we provide continuous support with planning, replacement and scaling up staff.

What are the rules for student work in logistics in 2026?

A student worker may work 650 hours per calendar year at the reduced solidarity contribution. Your share is 5.42 per cent, and the hours you reserve in Dimona come off the counter immediately. File the Dimona late and those hours fall outside the contingent, with ordinary contributions applying.

One change matters for your evening shift. The Act of 18 May 2026 lifted the general ban on night work as of 1 June 2026. Night work in principle still means work between 8 pm and 6 am, but logistics activities for third parties fall under a separate regime: for workers starting from 1 June 2026 onwards, you only owe a night premium for the hours from 11 pm. In practice, a packing shift from 4 pm to 10 pm falls entirely outside the premium hours, whereas the same shift counts from 8 pm outside that regime. Two points to watch. Agency workers count as ordinary employees, so a student who already worked for you before 1 June 2026 keeps the right from 8 pm. And the maximum working time of 9 hours a day and 40 hours a week is unchanged.

Finally the workstation itself. The Royal Decree of 3 May 1999 excludes the operation of motorised transport equipment for student workers, including those over 18. A student therefore packs and moves goods with a manual pallet truck, but does not drive a forklift. We record that in the workstation sheet in advance, so your supervisor does not have to explain it on the spot.

Hiring packers for your warehouse

A packing line is rarely the bottleneck in quiet weeks and almost always the bottleneck in busy ones. The work can be learned in half a shift, the instruction is written down and the quality check is part of the action itself. That is precisely where a flexible layer pays off fastest: you double the staffing in the weeks that need it, without fixed contracts for a peak that is gone by February.

Students fit this work better than their reputation suggests. They like working in blocks of a few weeks, are available on evenings and Saturdays, and prefer a clear hourly standard to vague tasks. We also work with familiar faces: the same group of students who know your packing standard, so your team leader does not have to train someone new every Monday.

From a one-off assignment to a lasting partnership

Would you like to take a student into permanent employment after the assignment? That is possible at no cost. We charge no takeover fee. Many clients start with a peak week and then find they would rather deploy the same students structurally, for example two fixed evenings a week alongside their studies. We are glad to take that step with you rather than slow it down.

Pool management by Recruit a Student

A packing line runs on routine. A student who knows your packing standard knows which products need double protection and which order ships separately, and that saves your supervisor checks. With pool management we therefore build a fixed group of students around your floor, instead of sending someone new for every peak.

That pool is also your buffer. If someone drops out in the busiest week, you do not have to ring around: we replace from the same group, with someone who already knows your line, your scanners and your quality rules. We track availability, monitor the hour contingent per student and plan ahead around exam periods, so that the exam month does not leave a gap in your staffing just as the returns wave begins. Read more on our pool management page.

More about pool management

Recruiters and students at work in a Recruit a Student office

Your rate

One transparent hourly rate, with no hidden costs

You pay one hourly rate per hour worked. It covers the student’s wage, employer contributions, insurance, payroll and our support. No recruitment fees up front, no takeover fee afterwards, no invoices for hours that were not worked.

Because the rate follows the pay scale of your joint committee and the shift you want to cover, we calculate it per situation. You receive that figure in the quote.

Request a quote without obligation

Student staffing agency with national coverage and local expertise

We place student workers throughout Belgium. From Antwerp we serve the port and the warehouse zones in the Campine, along the Albert Canal and as far as Zeeland; from Brussels the distribution centres in the periphery, around the ring road and towards Zaventem. In Ghent we work with a student pool, so a packing line there is staffed as well without you having to recruit yourself. Your request always reaches an account manager from your own region, not a general number.

Personal contact at our offices

Also of interest

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One dedicated account manager as your point of contact

You have one dedicated account manager who knows your company, your planning and the way you work. You go to this person for a new request, a change in the planning or a question about payroll.

That way you always talk to someone who already knows your situation, and we act fast when you need extra students.

Want to get acquainted? Request a no-obligation quote or let us call you back.

Two Recruit a Student account managers talking in the office

Student staffing agency with offices in Belgium and the Netherlands

Recruit a Student Belgium has offices in Antwerp and Brussels. From there, we place students with employers across Flanders and Brussels. Our recruiters work from these offices and know the region.

In Belgium we have been active since 2015, with a pool of more than 500 students. In the Netherlands, Recruit a Student has been active since 1999, with 21 offices.

AntwerpFrankrijklei 5
2000 Antwerp View the office BrusselsKoning Albert II-laan 4
1000 Brussels View the office

All offices

GroningenLeeuwardenAssenZwolleZaandamAmsterdamAlmereSchipholEnschedeApeldoornLeidenAmersfoortUtrechtDen HaagArnhemRotterdamNijmegenTilburg en Den BoschBredaEindhovenVenloAntwerpAntwerpBrusselsBrussels
Belgium: Antwerp and BrusselsNetherlands: 21 offices

Questions

Frequently asked questions about hiring packers

You submit a request through the quote form or call +32 14 15 17 35. We discuss the shift, the number of hands and your packing instruction, and then propose candidates from our pool.

You pay one hourly rate per hour worked. That rate consists of the wage according to your joint committee’s pay scale, employer contributions, occupational accident insurance, payroll and our support. No recruitment fees or takeover charges are added.

Thanks to our pool we often present candidates within a few days, and a student can in many cases start the same week. For an announced peak, allow a little more lead time so the same crew covers the whole period.

Yes, and we charge no takeover fee. If the collaboration goes well, you simply take the student on.

No. The Royal Decree of 3 May 1999 on the protection of young people at work excludes motorised transport equipment for student workers, including those of age. A manual pallet truck remains possible under conditions. We set that boundary in the workstation sheet in advance.

Yes, and for many students that is the attractive shift. Take account of the night work regime described above and of the maximum of 9 hours a day and 40 hours a week. We build the shift into the planning and track the hour contingent per student.

We do that for you. We monitor the balance per student and flag it when a student approaches the contingent, so you are not caught out halfway through a peak week.

Need packers right away?

Tell us which shift you need to cover and with how many hands, and we will propose candidates from our pool. You will hear from your own account manager, not from a general number.

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