Social security sustainability reporting

Transcription

1 Good Practices in Social Security Good practice in operation since: 2015 Social security sustainability reporting Social Security Corporation Jordan Published

2 2 Summary The stated vision of the Social Security Corporation (SSC) is comprehensive social security attaining excellence in service, protection and sustainability that contributes to Jordan s development. Sustainability of the pension system has always been the first strategic objective of the SSC. The SSC stance on social responsibility is to be a shaper of society because its mission is to provide solidarity insurance services for the employed and pensioners. Sustainability reporting obliges organizations to disclose results in a context wider than the economic and financial aspects. It requires disclosing the material impact of their activities in the environmental and social dimensions which should be agreed upon with the key stakeholders of the organization. In 2015 an internal team from the SSC was formed to prepare the organization s first sustainability report. Following the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI standards), which is the first and most widely adopted global standards for sustainability reporting, the SSC published in 2016 its first sustainability report the first to do so among the different independent, semi-government and government organizations in Jordan. The issue or challenge What was the issue or challenge addressed by your good practice? Please provide a short description. The main challenge was to: 1. Identify what are the economic, environmental, and social practices that SSC should disclose and report which are of great importance to the SCC and its stakeholders. Sustainability disclosures and reporting should be presented in the form of an impact framework where economic, environments, and social activities would contribute to satisfy the higher objectives of the SSC with its surrounding environment and society. 2. The sustainability report when constructed by the SSC was planned to follow the GRI standards which the SSC was not familiar with at the time the activity started. 3. The report required the measurement of hundreds of performance indicators which were never measured before. Performance indicators were displayed in the form of historical trends or regressions to assess performance improvements. 4. The SSC did not have a function which has the expertise and experience to develop and issue the first sustainability report according to the GRI standards. 5. The SSC was the first organization from among the different independent, semigovernment, and government organization to issue such a report. Addressing the challenge What were the main objectives of the plan or strategy to resolve the issue or challenge? List and briefly describe the main elements of

3 3 the plan or strategy, focusing especially on their innovative feature(s) and expected or intended effects. In order to resolve the challenge, the SSC undertook major steps to ensure that the report will be issued: 1. The Director General of the SSC formed a sustainability team in order to undertake the main activities required to issue the first sustainability report. 2. The sustainability team was comprised of employees from several divisions and functions and were from different hierarchical levels in order to engage and involve the largest possible number of different departments in the activity and to create the needed culture. 3. In order to identify sustainability disclosure priorities of strong stakeholders, a special item was added to the board of directors meeting agenda to discuss sustainability priorities. The board is comprised of 15 members, 10 of whom represent workers and business owners. 4. Sustainability priorities of the society and employees were also taken in consideration through different engagement mechanisms in constructing the report. 5. The Director General of the SSC championed the development of the report by heading progress meetings, with SSC directors present in the meetings. The Director General of the SSC emphasized the sustainability priorities during progress meetings and requested all directors to cooperate with the sustainability team. 6. Baseline measurements and performance indicators were established and measured for the first time to reflect the impact of SSC activities on the environment and the society. 7. In order to evaluate the impact of sustainability activities in all three dimensions of economic, environmental and social, data and reports form national surveys published by different government agencies were analysed. An example was analysing the Household Expenditure and Income Survey published by the Department of Statistics to report the impact of pensions on reducing poverty. Targets to be achieved What were the quantitative and/or qualitative targets or key performance indicators that were set for the plan or strategy? Please describe briefly. There were several targets to be achieved: 1. Publish the first SSC report according the GRI standards. 2. Be the first independent organization in Jordan to publish the report on a voluntary basis. 3. Identify SSC activity priorities for both key stakeholders such as the pensioners, working Jordanians and business owners in Jordan, on one side, and the SSC on the other side on the three dimensions of economic, environmental and social, in accordance with the GRI standards. 4. Measure the identified economic, environmental, and social disclosures on a three year trend and establish baseline measurements to monitor the future performance of the SSC from these dimensions.

4 4 5. Launch and disseminate the report through a major press conference by the SSC and make the report available to stakeholders and the public. This will increase the transparency of the SSC. Evaluating the results Has there been an evaluation of the good practice? Please provide data on the impact and outcomes of the good practice by comparing targets vs actual performance, before-and-after indicators, and/or other types of statistics or measurements. 1. The SSC plans to publish the report every three years in order to assess its performance on the economic, environmental and social dimensions, and the impact of its activities at the national level. As mentioned in the previous sections, the report helped the SSC establish baseline measurements for hundreds of performance indicators which were not measured before and are of great importance to the SSC and its stakeholders. Examples of such indicators include: Table 1. A small example of sustainability disclosures published in the sustainability report (a few hundred if not thousands of performance indicators are in the sustainability report)* Example from selected disclosed indictors by the SSC Sustainability Dimension Number of insured by the SSC Impact Economic 1,041,517 1,107,895 1,166,991 Per cent of covered to the labour force Pensions impact on poverty reduction in Jordan for individuals Average performance evaluation of SSC departments Impact Economic 60.8% 62.1% 64.0% Impact Economic 7.7% 7.7% 7.7% Activity Economic 89% 83% 82.8% Number of Board Meetings Activity Economic Electrify consumption in the SSC - kwh Carbon dioxide emissions by SSC - Tons Per cent of female employees in the SSC Number of electronic services provided by the SSC Number of social responsibility Activities sponsored by the SSC Activity Environmental 2,275,217 2,384,611 2,270,080 Activity Environmental 2,033 2,243 1,984 Activity Social 36.3% 35.6% 35.4% Activity Social Activity Social NA NA 17 Notes: * This is a very small example of the total disclosures in the SSC sustainability report. NA= not available. Following the annual trends of the different disclosure indicators from all dimensions presented in the sustainability report will provide the SSC and its stakeholders with an opportunity to evaluate the performance of the SSC in a cohesive way.

5 copies of the report were distributed to several government, academic, private, and non-profit organizations. 3. The report was also published on the SSC website in order to increase the transparency of SSC activities and their impact. In response, several agencies contacted the SSC to participate in sustainability related events in Jordan. Lessons learned Based on the organization s experience, name up to three factors which you consider as indispensable to replicate this good practice. Name up to three risks that arose/could arise in implementing this good practice. Please explain these factors and/or risks briefly. Factors: 1. Leadership there should be a champion for the sustainability report which involves the creation of a new culture within social security organizations. In the case of Jordan, this was the Director General of the SSC. 2. Engagement of different departments across the organization since the sustainability report is a collaborative effort across the social security organization. This was achieved by creating a sustainability team within the SSC. 3. Need to establish baseline measurements for different activities within the organization covering economic, environmental, and social activities. Risks: 1. Not being able to reflect the sustainably disclosures on the social security organization activities. Many meetings and consultations with different departments and stockholders are needed to overcome this risk. 2. Performance measurements for different activities are not available. To overcome this risk, baseline measurements should be established for different activities and departments should be accountable for measuring indicators related to their activities. 3. Social security organizations should be open to feedback if any regression happens in its disclosed indicators. To overcome this risk, social security organizations should quickly respond and take action based on any indicators which are not performing well.