National Social Security Institute, Bulgaria: Added values of CAF

CAF Best Practice

Date of publication: 2024, January

The National Social Security Institute (NSSI) is the public institution that manages the state social security in Republic of Bulgaria. NSSI administrates the compulsory social security for sickness, maternity, unemployment, accident at work and professional diseases, disability, old age and death. It is the competent institution of Bulgaria in coordination with the social security for EU and the implementation of bilateral agreements in the fields of sickness and maternity benefits, death grants, unemployment benefits and pensions for disability, old age and survivors.

The National Social Security Institute was created in 1995 by the Law for State Social Security Fund as a successor of the Head Office of Social Security. NSSI reports its activities at the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Supervisory Board is the highest management body of NSSI comprised of representatives of the State and the national representative organizations of workers and employers.

The National Social Security Institute is a legal entity composed of a Head Office in Sofia city and local offices in each of the 28 district centers of the country.

The attention of the NSSI senior management and staff (the final report of the self-assessment and the action plan were openly distributed among all servants) is focused on the following areas of improvement:

(1) maintaining and developing the interaction with the external stakeholders;

(2) changing the approach from administration of personnel to human resource management aiming at continuous development of the staff;

(3) comprehensive changes in the way in which the results and effects of the NSSI’s actions are measured.

The results of the self-assessment have been approved by the Governor of the NSSI. This is a clear signal that the NSSI senior management is actively engaged in and support the process. The finalization of the self-assessment and the corresponding action plan coincided with the appointment of the new NSSI Governor. The conclusions of the self-assessment are now included in the Governor’s strategic concept for the NSSI development. The concept was presented to the members of the Labour, social and demographic policy permanent committee to the Bulgarian National Assembly. The concept has five main objectives, including “Building effective partnerships” and “Human resource development – the strength of each organisation”.

Regarding the management by processes and facts, the following measures have been included in the CAF action plan:

Introducing a strategic planning and management system containing operational performance measurement and describing the links between inputs, processes, outcomes, outputs and impacts. Within the 24 months following the adoption of the action plan, a balanced scorecard system has to be introduced.
The findings of the self-assessment report and the corresponding measures included in the action plan have been taken into account in the NSSI’s Strategy for development for the 2018-2021 period. The document addresses the following topics relevant to the CAF: “Improving of the human resource management system”, “Optimization of business processes through accelerating the introduction of process-oriented management approach”, and “Conducting of a functional analysis and optimization of organizational-management structure”.
Moreover, measures included in the action plan have been incorporated in the NSSI’s operational objectives for 2018. The operational plan addresses the following CAF-related areas: “Developing a comprehensive policy for partnership management”, “Implementing the main part of the actions towards introducing a comprehensive policy for human resource management”, “Analysis and preparation for introducing a strategic planning and management system through balanced scorecard of effectiveness indicators in order to improve the planning and monitoring of the implemented social insurance programmes and the NSSI’s activities”, “Introducing contemporary queue management systems with an opportunity to take into account the workload and the time necessary for the service delivery”, “Adopting an updated plan for accelerated introduction of a process-oriented management approach”, “Creating the base conditions and preparation for a functional analysis of the NSSI”.
• Deadlines, responsible units and progress measurement indicators have been determined. It has been decided that the action plan implementation will be monitored on a regular basis – every 4 months.
• In addition, it has been decided that after 2 years, a next self-assessment has to be conducted. This ensures a continuous improvement through applying the so-called “PDCA cycle” (plan-do-check-act).

The added value of the application of the CAF quality management model within the NSSI can be summarized by the following facts:
• Concrete measures for improving the current situation have been identified and included in an action plan:
1. Regarding the partnerships, it is envisaged that a comprehensive partnership management policy has to be developed. It will cover the whole complexity of interactions, expected results and areas of partnership development; it is expected to define the responsibilities of each subject involved in the partnership management processes (including control, evaluation and review of the partnerships) and to describe the ways to engaging the citizens/ customers; also, it will serve as guidelines for introducing good practices exchange between the partners. The expected results are increased effectiveness and efficiency of the delivered public services by establishing a mechanism formalising the interaction between the NSSI and its partners. This mechanism has to be designed and introduced within 9 months from the adoption of the action plan.
2. Regarding the personnel development, it is also planned that a c omprehensive policy will be developed. It will address at least the following issues: a) competence and career development of the NSSI staff; b) establishing culture of open communication and dialogue; c) enhancing teamwork and ensuring fair acknowledgment of the results achieved by the NSSI staff. The expected outcome is establishing a clear vision, transparent and fair staff management. The period of implementation is 18 months, starting from the adoption of the action plan.

Lessons learnt from the CAF self-assessment that discovered and described the area of improvement involved:
• We have learned that we can openly pose and discuss fairly the problems which the organisation is facing – in the way we see and perceive them.
• We have understood that there is a managerial will and the NSSI’s senior management supports the necessary changes.
• We have understood that we can achieve significant progress through joint efforts.