The report, prepared jointly by management consultants Accenture and the International Social Security Association (ISSA), was unveiled at the World Social Security Forum this week in Cape Town. The ISSA-Accenture study aims to facilitate and enhance knowledge-sharing among social security organizations on a global scale.
On the basis of appropriate institutional structures, it identifies five key enablers to realize high-performance. These are to empower employees as a key driver for performance; to develop and implement innovations centered on citizens; to actively leverage external experience and expertise; to position the organization as an active contributor to society; and to fully embed risk management into the organization and processes.
Holistic approach
With a growing emphasis on integrating social security reform initiatives with broader national development goals, the report's conclusion underlined that high performance in social security administration must reflect a holistic approach to change management, risk management and innovation.
“The most striking conclusion of the report is that high performance social security organizations exist in all regions of the globe and have common characteristics,” said David McCurley, Global Managing Director, Human Services Industry.
During a panel discussion on the report at the Forum, Zbigniew Derdziuk, President of the Social Insurance Institution in Poland, pointed out that particular advantage of national social security organizations is that they are not in direct competition, and therefore sharing of knowledge and experience for improved performance is frequent.
“Organizations like the ISSA are incredibly important for organizing the sharing of knowledge and enhancing policy development,” agreed Svenja Falk, Accenture’s Research APAC Lead.