The institution develops its own in-house training centre in order to better meet participants’ expectations of training quality, effectiveness and efficiency.

A broad range of institutional and individual stakeholders help promote and support effective social security and return-to-work programmes and improve employability.

The competent institutions inform workers of their rights and obligations in the event of unemployment and simplify procedures that facilitate access to programmes and services. All stakeholders should fulfil their responsibilities in full.

The specific guidelines in this section are:

• Informing the employers and the insured of their rights and obligations
• Simplifying procedures

The competent institutions are responsible for developing and supporting labour supply to facilitate reintegration into the labour market and to achieve the sustainable employability of the workforce in the long term.

A range of strategic and individualized initiatives are applied to promote and support proactive return-to-work outcomes.

Strategic initiatives typically include the implementation of incentives and the imposition of various regulatory requirements, ranging from enforced obligations to administrative reporting.

A return-to-work quality control strategy includes specific actions to ensure that the needs of the person concerned are systematically, reliably and effectively met on an ongoing basis.

The strategy should include risk assessment and environmental monitoring to identify changes in the person’s needs, the workplace and the business environment, as well as developments in return-to-work policy and programmes.

A strategy for assessing the impact and effectiveness of the return-to-work programme’s structure, policy, processes, and individual and programme outcomes is established in collaboration with partners and stakeholders, including the person concerned.

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.

Investing in workers’ health is critical to the future sustainability of social security. Such investment is at the core of a social security institution’s mission. The institution must thus assume the role of health promoter and work proactively to motivate and engage the insured population (i.e. within workplaces). Prevention and promotion approaches must be integrated into the institution’s vision and strategy, supporting the concept of Dynamic Social Security.

The institution’s plan for workplace health promotion addresses identified goals, determines actions, approaches and timelines, identifies necessary resources and establishes evaluation strategies.

Stakeholder commitment, ownership, involvement and participation in developing a workplace health promotion plan are prerequisites for developing sustainable activities.

The institution publicly recognizes the value of lifestyle health screening for employees.

In preparing a report on the actuarial valuation of a social security scheme, an actuary considers legislative requirements and relevant professional standards and guidance, as well as the intended audience.

The social security institution involves the actuary in the processes which determine an appropriate value to place on the scheme’s assets.

Placing an appropriate value on assets is important and may be required for a number of different reasons, including the need to assess the financial situation of a social security system and to determine benefit amounts.

In certain programmes, the value of benefits of current and/or future beneficiaries is directly or indirectly related to the value placed on assets.

The actuary follows the relevant actuarial standards applicable in the country in which he or she works or those set by the actuarial association(s) of which he or she is a member. If the actuary is a member of an actuarial association which has not set relevant standards, the social security institution ensures that the actuary follows the International Standards of Actuarial Practice (ISAP) recommended by the International Actuarial Association (IAA) as model standards.

In the case where internal resources are used to perform actuarial work, the social security institution maintains adequate staffing levels and provides the actuarial department with the necessary resources to ensure that tasks can be carried out effectively.

This guideline should be read in conjunction with Guidelines 49 and 51.

The institution develops a strategy to reach out to groups by taking into account their needs, characteristics and local circumstances.

The institution adopts a long-term strategy to introduce and constantly improve the coordination and portability of benefits between different schemes in the national jurisdiction as well as between schemes in different countries that have entered into bilateral or multilateral social security agreements.

The institution is aware of innovative communication technology and makes informed decisions about the use of social media in communication.

The institution provides accurate and easy to understand information on its programmes and services, through various channels.

The institution manages compliance risk and reduces non-compliance by developing proactive compliance-oriented strategies and structures.

Awareness of rights and obligations vis-à-vis the social security system, including with regard to contribution collection and compliance, plays a key role in fostering a “culture” of social security and compliance. This is particularly important where there have been historical problems of poor service, fraud or data loss.

Legislation, policy or decree defines the powers and responsibilities of the board. The powers and responsibilities of the board are clearly delineated from those of the management. There are no areas of ambiguity, dilemma or conflict of interest.

The legislation, policy or decree that establishes the social security programme normally prescribes its manner of financing and the benefits to be provided to the covered population.

Predictability refers to the consistent and uniform application of the law, including the rules and regulations to implement it. Stakeholders are generally averse to sudden or unannounced changes in contributions to and benefits from the programme. The methodical application of the programme will strengthen stakeholder confidence and support for it.

Legislation, policy or decree establishes the legal liability of the management.

Participation refers to the effective involvement of stakeholders in the institution’s decision-making process to protect their interests and to support the social security programme. It is a way of building partnership between the board and the institution’s stakeholders, allowing better policy-making, improvement of trust among stakeholders and the enhancement of transparency.