Guideline 5. Measurement and feedback

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The institution measures and publishes performance against its service standards and uses this data to predict future demand for services.

This produces organizational transparency, which helps lead to sustained improvement.

Guideline code

SQ_00700

Mechanism

The management should employ various means of measuring service performance, including:

Against other social security organizations, within and outside the country;
Against organizations in other industries (e.g. banking, insurance, finance);
Between comparable internal units (e.g. the pension department and the unemployment insurance department).

The management should consider using the Balanced Scorecard approach. This measures key indicators (e.g. financial, customer experience, business processes, staff-related processes) and seeks to achieve balance through examining both operational and strategic performance along with lead (predictive) and lag (reflective) indicators.
The management should establish a corporate committee to use this approach and report on key performance indicators, including trend data such as:
The number and type of complaints and compliments received;
Turnover of frontline staff (e.g. an increase in turnover can indicate that staff are not receiving proper training);
New and completed service quality projects, milestones achieved, expense against budget and forecast spend;
The type and frequency of participant engagement (by category of participant) and key issues discovered;
The frequency and type of media coverage (e.g. print, television, social media);
Public reception (e.g. in mass media).

The management should establish an operational performance management regime. Line managers should regularly review and report on performance against targets.
The management should determine indicators of service quality and, where possible, automate the collection of this data as a logical by-product of that collected to complete a business process. (Quality can be compromised when data is collected solely for reporting and statistical purposes.)
The management should conduct formal participant satisfaction surveys (e.g. among employers, providers), at least annually. Using an external body to design the survey instruments and collect the data will increase the confidence of respondents.
The management should publish (e.g. on the website or in the annual report) participant survey and operational performance results. They should also state what actions will be taken to address poor or falling performance against published standards.
The management should establish a process by which to improve operational performance standards as part of the service quality framework (see Guideline 7).

Parent

Structure

The board and management should regularly exchange information with social institutions within the country and externally with regard to international social security agreements and convention obligations (e.g. the European Union social security coordination regulations). They should monitor and report on the performance of allied organizations as it impacts on service quality.
The board and management should establish measurement and feedback processes on service quality within the governance framework of the organization (i.e. their own key performance indicators or KPIs).
The management should adopt a structured and systemic approach to performance management (i.e. measuring the things that matter rather than the things it can).
The management should systematically determine key performance indicators as key components of the institution’s service quality framework.
The management should collect operational performance data and participant feedback and carefully analyse it to assess the overall health of the service quality framework.
The management should follow the five principles of good governance as outlined in the ISSA Guidelines on Good Governance (Accountability, Transparency, Predictability, Participation, Dynamism) when measuring and reporting on service quality issues.