SSNIT NEWSLETTER JAN - DEC 2016 VOLUME 16 No. 3 PAGE: 14 SSNIT: POISED FOR GIANT STRIDES SSNIT Board Chairman Receives State Award 18 ...ALSO IN THIS ISSUE DG CHAIRS ISSA INVESTMENT COMMISSION 6 SSNIT INTRANET, THEN, NOW AND THE FUTURE 10 MS LOMO SPEAKS 15 OBS Project signed off 22 PENSIONERS AND THEIR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES 19 OUR MISSION Excellent ManagementEditorial –Staff To provide income Security for workers in Ghana Collaboration through excellent business practices he year 2016 has been a challenging but eventful year with the consolidation of so many of the technological innovations to aid the business of the Trust and also a peaceful industrial OUR VISION Tatmosphere. To be the model for the The vision of the Board of Trustees and the management of the administration of Social Trust led by the Director General, Mr Ernest Thompson in giving Protection Schemes in Africa and a push to his vision of using Information and Communication Beyond. Technology (ICT) as the basis of productivity had also been realized in significant ways. OUR VALUES Even though the implementation of the Operational Business Suite (OBS) and the digitization of the Trust records for instance had Professional (Ethical, Conduct, been complex and tedious, great successes had been chalked Confidentiality and Discipline) which had made benefit processing easier and quicker for members to the scheme. Leadership (Empowerment) A lot had also been done in the Human Resource and Finance Integrity (Accountable and Divisions in terms of migrating data to the Oracle platform. Other Transparent) departments such as Audit, Procurement and Legal are also Customer Focus (Service, finalizing their automation processes. Excellence and Empathy) Challenges of the OBS involving the transfer of data from the Legacy Commitment (Passion) system to the new system is also being seriously addressed with a view to reducing or eliminating them completely. Innovation On management–staff relations, the achievement had been Team Work (Collaboration and phenomenal. The Trust had enjoyed a generally peaceful Participation) industrial atmosphere with the Collective Agreement negotiations concluded in two sittings as a result of good partnership between the Identifiable Bodies and the Trust Board and Management of the Trust. The staff had comported themselves very well and also showed a high level of discipline within the year. Mr Ernest Thompson in congratulating the staff at the Accra-Tema Fun Games held at the Burma Camp Sports Complex recently said, "The number of disciplinary cases we have received so far are negligible, few flouted the rules and regulations.” He said the Editorial Team few instances of disciplinary cases reported, bordered on the Editor- in – Chief-: Ms Evangeline Amegashie wrong use of discretion and not fraud. Editor: Mr James Addy Deputy Editor: Mr Yaw Asare This good testimonial about the Trust, behoves all staff to keep up the good work in terms of the use of technology to reach the goal P.O Box MB149, Ministries, Accra. of a paperless office that helps to speed up the processing of Email [email protected] benefits and to continue to exhibit ethical behaviour in terms of Tel: 030 2611622 good customer care and general comportment to build SSNIT as Website: www.ssnit.org.gh a caring organization that provide customer care with courtesy Published by: The Corporate Affairs Department. and can be trusted always to deliver on its promise. Designed & Printed by Buck Press Ltd. 2 Goodwill Message With the year drawing to a close, the SSNIT Board of Trustees, the management and the staff can say with pride that significant progress had been made in transiting from manual ways of benefit processing and payment to the use of various technologies. This has improved the Trust business including the making of sound investment decisions that would guarantee and inure to the future income security of contributors. FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF SSNIT Mr. Ernest Thompson Director General, SSNIT It is worth reflecting that in April, this year, we successfully The future of SSNIT looks bright and I am optimistic staff signed off the Operational Business Suite (OBS) Project with would embrace these technologies which have been made the vendors, Silverlake (Malaysia ) and Perfect Business available at great expense to enhance their work. Because Services Limited (Ghana) , with a few knots to tie. all these state-of-the-art technologies without the human face makes the expenditure meaningless. The Project has improved the self-service management components such as the Biometric Terminal and the Portal We should demonstrate a more positive attitude to work, meant to solve issues such as Record-keeping and Document relate positively to our numerous clients and stakeholders. Imaging, Member and Employer Registration, Contribution Management, Compliance and Prosecutions, Benefits I must say “Ayekoo” to all staff adjudged Best Performers in Administration and Relationships Channel Management the various Departments, Areas and Branches in the 2015 (RCM). assessment year. I hope others would strive to attain such recognition in their career with SSNIT. The Biometric Terminal is envisaged as one of the alternative channels for people to access information from All of us, especially Executives of the Identifiable Bodies must the Trust including viewing of nominee information, printing congratulate ourselves for keeping a peaceful industrial statements, obtaining life certificates and making general atmosphere where problems are amicably resolved through enquiries without necessarily visiting the Branch. dialogue and mutual respect. It ties in with my passion of getting the Trust to use technology We are also grateful for the services of the members of the to enhance productivity and staff performance. Executive Team and also staff who went on retirement this year. We wish them good health and comfort as they take a In May, 2016 three Oracle Software Projects - Human well-deserved rest from their labours with SSNIT. Resource Management HRMS, E-Business Suite, Procurement Management and the Legal Application Suite were deployed We also pray to the Almighty for the souls of all members of to achieve that common goal of e-business. staff who parted ways with us within the year. May their souls rest in peace! We must now move quickly to resolve issues involving our data which is long overdue to ease the anxieties and With these few words, I wish all of us, on behalf of the Board frustration of our members when it comes to benefit of Trustees and the Executive Team, a peaceful year and processing and payment. hope we shall take off once again with renewed vigour to push forward the business of SSNIT to greater heights. We also have to expand coverage of Social Security contributions , strengthen compliance and to step up the God bless us all! prosecution of employers who fail to pay their social security Thank you. contributions and to retrieve all arrears due. 3 Goodwill Message It gives me great pleasure to address members of the Senior Staff Association (SSA) of SSNIT on this august occasion. An occasion that all of us have been expecting joyously. I bring warm tidings of the yuletide. The year 2016 has been eventful both in respective of SSA activities and the Trust as a whole. First, I thank God for granting us excellent health to absorb all the pressures during the year. FROM SENIOR STAFF ASSOCIATION (SSA) Mr. Kuuku Welsing-Jones SSA President Secondly, I wish to thank Management for all the great On this occasion, I wish on behalf of the Executive of the SSA things they have provided us in terms of logistics and to remind all and sundry that we have been provided the remunerations. It is an incontrovertible fact that SSNIT is one necessary tools to galvanize us increase efficiency in order of the institutions with envious conditions of service. I vouch to increase productivity. I hope the trust reposed in us will without hesitation that, SSNIT has been a great Mother to materialize positively. us. A few problems persist, but they are surmountable. On discipline, I wish to congratulate each of us that the year In terms of logistics, I am proud to say that the Trust has has been very good. There have been fewer infractions of provided Desk Top Computers to more than 80% of the staff policies that will warrant the exercise of positive powers to enable them carry out their duties timely and efficiently. of Management to suspend or dismiss erring staff. I am very grateful to staff and hope the ensuing year will be an Moreover, as part of consolidating her gains, Management improvement. has recently employed young and capable graduates to understudy the outgoing but experienced staff. This is to I wish to dwell on our sartorial tasks as members of a visible further enhance the credibility of the Scheme when the corporate institution like SSNIT. I am sad to say that some latter retire honourably. of our ladies have not done well in this area. I will leave the Ladies Club to groom our Ladies in the art of dressing, Indeed, SSNIT has changed drastically from the way we especially the type of footwear for office. It is my hope, that performed our duties. The recent upgrading of qualified staff next year, I will not have the opportunity to address this has increased the number of the Senior Staff and brought in issue again. its wake an increase in contributions to the SSA Leave Fund and Loan Fund. During the year under review, few members retired honourably and they serve as a beacon of hope to some of Conversely, it has brought an equal measure of challenges. us that with a purposeful mentality we can live to 60 years! There will be more duties to perform in respect of workers’ We wish them well.