OUR STRATEGY
OUR EMPLOYEES
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): A Path Towards Gender Balance
In its commitment to foster inclusiveness at the workplace, NSSF has made strides to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels in the organisation, including at the most senior managerial levels.While substantial progress has been made in the past, the Fund acknowledges the need for ongoing efforts to create an environment where everyone is valued, supported, and enabled to realise their full career potential regardless of gender.
Establishing a workplace that promotes diversity and equity represents a significant victory, benefiting both individual employees and the whole organisation.”
Milton Owor,
Chief of People and Culture
Fostering gender diversity
Today, women represent only 22% of the managerial roles at the Fund. Acknowledging that this is unacceptable, we have an ambitious goal for the future. Our goal is to achieve 40:60 gender ratio by 2030, ensuring that women occupy at least 40% of managerial positions. NSSF recognises that a diverse leadership team provides a broader range of perspectives, ideas, and solutions, contributing to better decision-making and overall organisational and individual success.
To achieve this, we are proactively implementing various initiatives to empower women and foster their leadership growth. One standout initiative is the Pathfinder Academy, a platform designed to cultivate leadership skills and empower women employed by the Fund. The academy provides training, mentorship, and networking opportunities for our female talent, equipping them with the tools and knowledge necessary to unlock their potential and excel in leadership roles.
Graduation Ceremony of the First Cohort of NSSF Pathfinder Programme
Building an inclusive leadership pipeline
By investing in the professional development of women, NSSF is taking tangible steps to bridge the gender gap and build a more inclusive leadership pipeline. A significant milestone in NSSF's DEI journey was the recent completion of a restructuring process. During this process, 51 women acquired new roles out of the 116 positions available. This accomplishment not only highlights the Fund's commitment to gender parity but also underscores the effectiveness of its initiatives in fostering career advancement opportunities for women. By providing a supportive environment and merit-based selection processes, NSSF creates avenues for women to rise to leadership positions based on their qualifications and potential.
While these achievements demonstrate progress, NSSF is fully aware that meaningful change requires continuous effort and vigilance. By promoting a culture of inclusivity, where all employees feel valued and empowered regardless of gender, NSSF aims to create an environment that celebrates diversity and encourages collaboration among employees from various backgrounds.
Beyond Equality to Enhanced Performance
The benefits of a diverse and inclusive leadership team extend beyond social justice and equality; they positively impact the bottom line and overall organisational performance. By fostering an environment where women and men have equal opportunities to contribute and lead, NSSF is positioning itself for sustained success in an increasingly dynamic and competitive landscape.
Our DEI strategy is already paying huge dividends. We attract and retain the best female talent in the market, and an increasing number of women are being promoted into senior leadership roles.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN FY2023
Our employees are a key driver of our success in serving our members. It is through their ingenuity, excellence, and integrity that we can build a prosperous Fund. We are committed to fostering a work environment in which our people are supported, feel like they belong and can make meaningful contributions in living out our purpose. Our work environment is a vital component of our human capital strategy. It focuses on investing in experiences across the employee life cycle by attracting and retaining skilled talent, employee engagement, and supporting employees and their families in various stages of life through our competitive total rewards portfolio.
Occupational Safety and Health
In the pursuit of maintaining a safe and secure work environment, the Fund placed emphasis on occupational safety and health (OSH) during the year.
One of the key initiatives in this regard was the training provided by Uganda Red Cross Society. More than 55 Occupational Safety and Health Committee champions underwent intensive training, covering a range of critical topics. These included effective strategies for managing fire injuries, resuscitation techniques and addressing fainting incidents, among others. By empowering these champions with practical skills, the Fund has taken a significant step towards enhancing the organisation’s overall safety preparedness.
Recognising global OSH importance, the Fund sent a staff member to South Africa for ISO 45001 training, boosting expertise with this globally recognised benchmark.
Employee Health and Wellbeing
“A Healthy Lifestyle for a Better Life”
To nurture and promote a comprehensive approach to employee wellbeing, the Fund has embarked on a transformative journey that prioritises physical and mental health. Over the course of the financial year, a range of innovative initiatives were undertaken to cultivate a wellness culture, resulting in amplified staff engagement, improved health, empowerment, and a thriving atmosphere of healthy living. This has translated into heightened productivity, enhanced teamwork, and an overall healthier and happier workforce.
Taking care of our staff who are mothers is crucial to our work life balance strategy. Mothers freely breastfeed their babies during working hours.
These initiatives include:
Step Challenge: a dynamic 6-week Step Challenge encouraged staff to embrace physical activity, promoting a more active lifestyle.
Lose it Together Challenge: To promote weight management and healthy eating habits, the Lose it Together Challenge created an atmosphere of camaraderie in pursuing a common wellness goal.
Gym and Fitness Centres: Staff were encouraged to frequent gyms and fitness centres to uphold their physical fitness.
Health Screenings: Annual medical checkups provided valuable insights into staff members’ health status, including BMI, Blood Pressure, random blood sugar, optical and dental checkups, HIV counselling and testing services for staff and their dependents.
Wellness Champions: A network of wellness champions was thoughtfully selected and trained from various departments and branches. These champions play a pivotal role in disseminating wellness practices and supporting colleagues in adopting healthier lifestyles.
Staff Wellness Townhalls: Company Health Advisors facilitated enlightening wellness sessions to guide staff in cultivating habits conducive to healthy living.
Healthy Meal Offerings: The staff cafeteria was transformed into a hub of health, offering nourishing and balanced meals to sustain employee wellbeing.
Personalised Health Advisory: Those with high-risk health conditions received personalised guidance from Company Health Advisors, fostering individualised support.
Continuous Guidance: A steady stream of wellness insights, counselling nuggets, and wellbeing tips were disseminated weekly, fostering a culture of ongoing learning and improvement.
Counselling: Free counselling services are offered to employees and their immediate families through our independent services provider M/S Healing Talk Counselling Services.
Calendar Health Celebrations: The Fund actively commemorated key health days and months, including World Cancer Month, World Food Day, World AIDS Day, World Mental Health Day, and World Breast Feeding Week, engaging staff in the global health narrative.
Dependent Care and Breastfeeding Support: The Fund’s onsite childcare facility extended care to breastfeeding mothers, earning recognition from the Ministry of Health and UNICEF for its commitment to supporting breastfeeding mothers’ rights and dignity.
Employee engagement and communication
Employee Engagement
Our approach to employee engagement centres on creating an environment where our employees feel valued, informed, and connected to the organisation’s goals. We have taken deliberate steps to foster engagement that goes beyond surface level satisfaction. Our commitment to engagement is evident through our annual employee engagement survey, which offers our employees the platform to share their thoughts, opinions, and suggestions for improvement on various aspects of their work environment.
This feedback serves as a compass that guides our decisions at the highest levels of leadership. By considering our employees’ perspectives, we ensure that our strategies, policies, and initiatives align with their needs and aspirations. Our commitment to employee engagement has yielded tangible results. Over the past two years, our annual Employee Engagement Survey has consistently shown engagement levels exceeding 90%. These numbers reflect not only employee satisfaction but also their active involvement in the organisation’s journey.
This year’s survey indicated an overall employee satisfaction rate of 86% (FY 2022: 92%). The survey indicated an overall employee satisfaction rate of 83% (FY 2022: 92%). The decline in the employee satisfaction rate is due to the recent NSSF investigations which reduced staff morale, increased their anxiety, uncertainty and insecurity during the period.
Every year we hold an annual staff conference
We have Fund doctors who frequently engage staff on wellness programmes and encourage all to have routine health check ups
Our management team is equally assessed through a 360-degree review that enables employees to provide feedback to their leaders, peers, or direct reports. This feedback helps management identify areas of leadership strength as well as areas for development improvement. Our engagement initiatives extend beyond the survey, encompassing a variety of activities aimed at building connections, fostering open dialogue, and promoting a sense of community.
These initiatives include:
Communication
Our relentless pursuit of a harmonious and productive work environment hinges on the principles of trust and collaboration. Embedded within the very fabric of the Fund culture is a commitment to maintain robust channels of communication among our employees. We believe that open dialogue is the cornerstone of a thriving organisation.
To this end, we have established a range of online communication platforms that empower our employees to voice their insights and concerns. The intranet facilitates daily updates spanning the Fund operations in Uganda and the broader region. Through these initiatives we reaffirm our dedication to fostering an environment where every voice is heard, ensuring that ideas flourish and relations prosper.
Our policies and procedures ensure consistency and fairness across the Fund. Our policies are written in an understandable way and are accessible to all staff. Every two years we review our policies to ensure they are up to date with legal requirements and relevant for business and social strategies.
Equal opportunities
Our guiding philosophy embraces the principles of authenticity, value, and belonging for all. We are resolutely dedicated to fostering a diverse workforce underpinned by an inclusive culture, with equity at its very core. Our commitment to this ethos extends to every facet of our organisation, creating an environment that nurtures opportunities for individuals from diverse cultures, faiths, ethnicities, heritages, abilities, genders, and ages.
Our workforce comprises a total of 579 employees (FY 2022: 637). Our employee turnover rose to 6.5% from 2.1% last year due to voluntary exits after organizational redesign. The Fund promotes equal opportunities and gender equality is not just an intention but a reality. Female employees constitute 46% of our total workforce, with 23% holding positions in managerial roles.
Our decisions regarding recruitment, promotions, training, and all employment matters are grounded solely on individual capabilities, achievements, expertise, and conduct. We emphatically reject discrimination based on gender, race, religion, ethnicity, cultural, heritage, age, social background, disability, or any other consideration not linked to job performance.
Remuneration and benefits
We pay salaries in line with appropriate market rates, as well as providing our people with a range of other benefits. Benefits include medical insurance, life insurance, leave concession allowance, gym membership for all staff, retirement benefits scheme, among others. All permanent employees participate in our variable annual remuneration plan. We offer a consistent and competitive annual bonus to all permanent staff across the organisation.
Human Rights and Labour Issues
In FY 2022/23, no incident of discrimination or violation involving human rights was recorded. In this regard, the Fund has the following policies:
Training and development
Our commitment to employee development stands as a cornerstone of our mission to achieve greater efficiency, growth, and competitiveness. During the year, we continued to provide equal opportunities for growth and learning, recognising that a skilled and adaptable workforce is paramount to our success.
We have established a comprehensive framework that encompasses diverse avenues of growth, including mentorship, formal training, On-the-job learning, benchmarks, and secondment on key projects.
Employee development plans are tailored to nurture critical skills that are pivotal for propelling the Fund’s future growth. We go beyond skills to cover strategy, technology, leadership succession, and employee needs. We achieved a 97% implementation rate for the corporate training plan.
Embracing digital innovation, we have invested in Percipio, an e-Learning skilling platform designed to drive transformation. This innovative platform facilitates the identification and measurement of skill proficiencies, ensuring our workforce remains relevant and agile in a rapidly evolving landscape. This platform offers a blend of self-paced online courses, hands-on practice, virtual live online classes, career growth journeys, and coaching, all accessible anytime, anywhere, and on any device. The platform has an impressive utilisation rate of 92%.
Performance Management
Clear and measurable organisational, departmental, and individual performance targets are set at the beginning of every financial year, so our employees know what is expected of them to focus their energy and efforts on what matters most.
Clear rating descriptions provide our employees with an indication of where they stand in their personal performance and growth journey.
Employee retention and succession planning
Our objective is to foster a culture of excellence within the Fund and talent retention is critical. We strive to attract, recruit, and retain the best talent for all roles across the Fund to best serve our members. The Fund rewards employees for long term service and exceptional performance and achievement.
Our effective retention strategy and succession planning is shown in employee tenure. The average tenure is 8.9 years, and over 61% have contributed for 5+ years. In FY 2022/23, 160 employees were promoted to senior roles, mostly from positions created post the organisational redesign.