A proactive reporting strategy facilitates early identification, timely intervention, case management, accommodation, successful return to work and job retention. The management and all relevant stakeholders cooperate in establishing such a strategy.
Effective prevention and management of injury, illness or a health condition is the result of the coordinated efforts of a multi-disciplinary team and the promotion of partnerships.
An effective multi-disciplinary team will involve such actors as health-care professionals and providers, rehabilitation professionals and suppliers of assistive devices, and community resources such as government programmes and those operated by special interest groups which offer information, education, counselling and support.
This set of seven guidelines provides a service quality model that addresses seven areas of common concern to social security institutions. Service quality in social security, and in the public sector in general, takes its cue from the commercial sector. The guidelines are consistent with best practice in the commercial sector.
The following guidelines are organized in three parts:
The guidance that follows is organized in three parts:
Part A, Basic Conditions for Workplace Health Promotion, deals with the structural issues to be addressed so that social security institutions can encourage and enable their clients – public and private sector enterprises and organizations – to develop comprehensive approaches to workplace health promotion.
Assessment of health needs is an essential step when defining issues that must be addressed in a workplace health promotion programme. A health needs assessment (HNA) is a systematic method of reviewing the health issues facing a population, while also assessing the structures and programmes already in place that support workplace health promotion. The results of a health needs assessment contribute to developing effective workplace health promotion strategies.
Support to companies and other organizations may be provided in a number of ways, including providing consultancy advice and support as a specific contractual arrangement or as part of general service provision. Four specific ways in which a social security institution can facilitate the development of comprehensive workplace health promotion programmes (based on the Luxembourg Declaration) are presented below.
The social security institution ensures the availability of sufficient and reliable data necessary to perform actuarial work. The social security institution is responsible for the management of the data pertaining to the social security scheme participants and provisions, and compliance with data privacy legislation and national standards.
The social security institution or other governing institution plays a role in the monitoring and surveillance of defined contribution schemes, as appropriate.
The social security institution sets out appropriate processes and structures to identify risk.
The social security institution regularly assesses the level of protection offered by the scheme through the actuary's analysis of the replacement rate and other relevant adequacy measures. When assessing benefit adequacy of a pension scheme, the social security institution considers retirement income from other sources, such as any universal non-contributory pension, mandatory or voluntary occupational or individual pension plans, and/or legislated end-of-service payments.
Key capacities – some internal to the institution, some external – enable social security institutions to work towards the extension of coverage. In most cases, the extension of coverage is a horizontal endeavour requiring the collaboration of a variety of institutional players.
The specific guidelines in this section are:
The institution collaborates with external organizations on operational processes to collect contributions and enforce compliance among difficult-to-cover groups.
The institution remains in touch with its internal and external stakeholders in order to listen before speak.
Advances in information and communication technology (ICT) are explored for cost efficiency and to facilitate interactions with the institution.
Contributor non-compliance (especially, deliberate evasion) and the limits of preventive compliance administration measures mean that instances of failure to comply with the law are inevitable.
Therefore, institutions must establish effective mechanisms to prevent and control fraud on social security contribution collection and compliance. These need to be regularly reviewed to update fraud detection approaches to counter new types of fraud.
The diversity in governance practices around the world is a reflection of differences in the political, social, economic and cultural histories of countries. There is common recognition, however, that good governance is aimed at delivering what is mandated and ensuring that what is delivered is responsive to the evolving needs of the individual and society. Improved education and new technologies have increased the expectations of the public for accountable and transparent administration, including constant improvements in the delivery and performance of social services.
For social security institutions that have an investment mandate, legislation, policy or decree establishes the general direction of the investment policy and prescribes the types of allowed investment instruments. Furthermore, in order to maximize the long-term rate of return on reserves and at the same time mitigate investment risks, the range of instruments allowed for investments is sufficiently diversified.
The management is the group of persons who, under the legislation or by-laws establishing the entity, is given the responsibility for the administration and daily operations of the social security programme.
The 23 guidelines for the management support and promote the following five principles of good governance, as applied to social security institutions:
1. Accountability
2. Transparency
3. Predictability
4. Participation
5. Dynamism
The management adopts and abides by a board-approved, workable code of conduct for its officers and staff, which includes a policy on the disclosure and management of conflicts of interest.
The strategic plan embodies a clear statement of the institution’s vision for the planning period. The vision statement is inspiring and easy to communicate. It is guided by the institution’s mandate.
The programme has regular actuarial valuations to monitor sustainability.
The board and management are duty bound to prevent and control any form of corruption and fraud in the collection of contributions for and the payment of benefits of the social security programme.
Corruption and fraud undermine the credibility of the programme to stakeholders, which can lead to a weakening or withdrawal of stakeholder support.
These two guidelines will help prevent and control corruption and fraud in the collection of contributions and the distribution of benefits.
Investments in ICT respond to the short- and medium-term needs of the institution and are always aligned with its strategic plan. The management establishes a standard system of policies and procedures to evaluate and decide on proposals for investments in ICT infrastructure, to enhance accountability, transparency, predictability, participation and dynamism.
The institution ensures the continuity of its services, especially those involving critical operations, and maintains the availability of information at an acceptable level in the event of significant disruption.
