After a legislative change, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) took over from 1 July 2021 a government programme for families in Poland called Dobry start (Good start) 300plus, aimed at parents of children attending school.

The solution implemented by the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) in the form of digitisation of files is a key element in the era of universal access to documentation in electronic form. This ensures an efficient and comprehensive support for ZUS customers as well as priority task performance by employees. In view of the experience gained so far and based on the high results of digitisation, ZUS plans to extend the process further to other areas of activity.

The pace of development of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on social and economic life took everyone by surprise. Lockdown of entire sectors of the economy and restrictions in everyday functions caused serious disruptions of economic processes and had a significant impact on the condition of many enterprises and the labour market situation. To minimise the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy, the government introduced the aid programme known as the Anti-Crisis Shield (ACS).

In 2020, the Polish government introduced a new form of support for Polish families and the tourism industry due to the difficult economic situation caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. This was the Polish Tourist Voucher, a benefit of 500 złoty (PLN) for each child and an additional PLN 500 for a disabled child. The electronic voucher is intended to finance hotel services or tourist events in Poland.

In October 2020, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) of Poland provided its customers with the possibility of “e-visit in ZUS”, a consultation with a ZUS expert through a video call.

e-visit is a safe and convenient form of contact with a ZUS employee. Without leaving home, customers can talk to an expert to help them with their case. During an e-visit, the customer can obtain general information on the legislation, submit applications and obtain personal data recorded in his or her individual ZUS account.

The condition for efficient performance of tasks, especially important from the point of view of a public trust institution like the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS), is constant development of knowledge and skills of each employee and continuous improvement of professional qualifications. Supporting the employee development process by the Employer is also a sine qua non condition.

The Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) has made available to customers of its IT system – the ZUS Electronic Services Platform (Platforma Usług Elektronicznych − PUE) – the possibility to self-create electronic documents based on select data from their ZUS accounts. Confirmations that bear a qualified electronic seal of ZUS have the same force as ZUS paper certificates, and can be used in the processes of other institutions.

Workplace atmosphere is one of the key factors influencing our well-being, efficiency and quality of performed duties. It is much more pleasant to spend time in a place where there is mutual understanding, respect and trust, where we can count on help from co-workers and superiors, where we do not experience unhealthy rivalry, hostility or unequal treatment. In a friendly environment, we willingly take on new challenges, thus increasing efficiency and improving the quality of performed tasks.

Human Resources (HR) departments are tasked with keeping up with business, being a partner that responds to needs, meets expectations and provides a sense of security through professional, efficient service and management.

The transformation of the Department for Employee Affairs (DEA) into the Human Resources Management Department (HRD), apart from its traditional HR and payroll functions, appointed HR Business Partners dedicated to a specific area and created the HR Controlling area together with the remuneration policy and the care of the employees’ professional development.

The new rules for payment and settlement of contributions collected by the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) have come into force since 1 January 2018. Payers pay all contributions due for all types of insurance and to all funds by means of one payment, using a regular payment document.

Payments are marked with the payer’s Individual Number of Contribution Account (NRS) and then posted and settled to cover proportionally the contributions due, as indicated by:

The Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) strives to maintain the highest standards in public fund management and fund security. The challenge in this area is fraud which is among the types of risks affecting the ZUS. We analyse actions in this risk category which, through intentional concealment of truth, may result in obtaining a benefit or in avoiding the payment of contributions. These activities are often carried out in apparent compliance with the law but are in fact in contradiction of the law.

Since 1 December 2018, the Polish legal system has made it a statutory obligation to issue medical certificates of incapacity for work only in electronic form (e-ZLA). One week after the regulation came into force, more than 99 per cent of medical certificates of incapacity for work were issued electronically.

The achieved result is a huge success, considering that only 6.4 per cent of certificates were issued electronically in the previous year.

A project that provides (i) the customers of the Social Security Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) with a dedicated service that informs them of factors and variables that affect the decision on when to retire, and (ii) the counsellors with a retirement calculator tool that allows estimating the pension amount under various options, has delivered its expected outcomes and related benefits.

For the first time in the history of the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS), a comprehensive action plan on customer service was prepared, namely, the “Customer service policy at the Social Insurance Institution for 2017–2020”.

In 2017, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) established four regional councils comprising 43 ZUS branches and ZUS headquarters, as a mechanism to supervise the implementation of ZUS objectives and tasks as well as key strategic projects, including legislative changes implemented in 2017–2018 (the Acts reducing the retirement age, e-contribution, and e-ZLA, respectively), and to monitor of the implementation of optimization projects and changes in the organization.

The Social Insurance Institution (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych – ZUS) introduces plain language standards to communicate with customers.

We have:

Collection of contributions that finance social insurance benefits is one of the basic tasks of the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS). Due to financial problems of payers resulting from economic turmoil, pandemics and natural disasters, the reliefs and remissions accompanying the process of collecting contributions have become particularly important in recent years. Forced recovery of debts is very costly for debtors and can result in bankruptcy. ZUS also recovers unduly paid benefits e.g. to non-eligible persons.

In the turbulent, constantly changing environment achieving ZUS' strategic objectives requires (among others) modifying the organizational culture by increasing employee satisfaction. For this purpose, the coherent human resource management system based on the model of competence will be implemented.

The project “Classes with ZUS” is addressed to secondary schools. It aims to raise awareness of young Poles on the role of social security in their lives.

The project presents: social solidarity principles, practical knowledge on the functioning of the system, obligations of employers towards ZUS, employer-friendly solutions - e-ZUS.

The project includes 4 lessons with the materials for teachers and for students (multimedia presentations, videos, exercises and texts to deepen the knowledge): 

The Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) is by law obliged to prepare forecasts of the spending and revenues of the Social Insurance Fund (FUS) (i.e. the pension fund, the disability fund, the sickness fund and the work injury fund). A cohort model built to fulfil this requirement was sufficient to forecast aggregate spending and revenues, but, being based on average cohort values, it does not provide information on the benefits’ structure.

Due to the wide scope of its statutory activities, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych − ZUS) has huge information resources and conducts numerous statistical surveys that allow for cross-sectional analysis of phenomena in the field of social insurance. The results of ZUS studies, analyses, forecasts and widely available statistical information are used by many public institutions, research institutions and private recipients.

In 2012–2013, the Social Insurance Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) commissioned a research to apply the Mystery Shopping method in the area of customer service. As a fully objective method to assess customer service, the research enabled ZUS to check whether applicable customer service standards were being observed. It also allowed ZUS to issue clear guidelines aimed at improving the quality of customer service. In addition, the research report provided strategic information to the ZUS Management Board.

Electronic Services Platform (PUE) is a set of advanced services for all ZUS' customers who contact ZUS through electronic means, by phone or directly, visiting a ZUS unit.

The web portal pue.zus.pl is its heart. It gives 24/24 h access to information available on a ZUS account and allows someone to deal - via Internet - with many social security issues without leaving home.

The good practice is aimed at optimizing the process of referrals to medical rehabilitation. Various actions have been taken to increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation, such as the introduction of a dedicated IT tool enabling the referral procedure to be decentralised to ZUS branch offices.

In December 2009, ZUS customer service standards and procedures were elaborated, together with their implementation timetable. Those standards and procedures were refined in subsequent years.

In practice, one aspect of this approach entails initiatives aimed at increasing customers' trust in ZUS as an institution. Increasing the level of acceptance of ZUS activities has two dimensions. The first relates to the acceptance of ZUS as a state institution fulfilling tasks in the field of social insurance, the second - to ZUS' role as an employer. The ZUS Development Strategy for 2013-2015 is a continuation of the transformation process initiated under the previous strategy implemented in 2010-2012. The Balanced Scorecard is applied as a Strategy structuring tool.

Previous forms of monitoring service quality were carried out internally, within ZUS and did not contain information on customers' expectations and prioritization of their needs, nor provide complete information on how the customers assess this across all channels of contact.

A programming team organized within the Social Security Institution (Zaklad Ubezpieczen Spolecznych – ZUS) independently provides a part of the IT systems functionalities.

By employing highly specialized software design and development professionals, the organization ensures the quality of the new products. Expertise in programming combined with knowledge of the institution’s operating rules and knowledge of the operational processes in force means that the products fit in well with the organization’s expectations.

The target Risk for Value model is a part of the entity of general management practice of the organization and governance building in ZUS. It generates added value, introduces effectivenessbased way of thinking about management, based on the analysis of dynamically modeled indicators of risk value - Key Risk Indicators (KRI).

The perception of risk management shifts from systematic risk mapping based on Risk Registry (qualitiative methods) toward a risk management system based on Key Risk Indicators (quantitative methods).

KRIs will enable ZUS to:

The Social Security Institution (ZUS) employs certifying physicians (1st instance) and physicians who are members of medical committees (2nd instance) who issue certificates stating incapacity for work in order to determine the right to social security benefits and who control the correctness of issued medical certifications of work incapacity. These physicians specialize in different fields of medicine as Poland has no specialization in medical certification and all postgraduate courses have no single curriculum.