'Double' benefit of paying insurance premiums through account

(Baonghean) - From July 10, 2017, Nghe An Social Insurance has piloted the payment of sickness, maternity, and health recovery benefits into employees' personal accounts. Initial observations at three pilot units, BSE Vietnam Electronics Co., Ltd., Matrix Vinh Co., Ltd., and Haivina Kim Lien Co., Ltd., show that this form of payment brings practical benefits and has received positive feedback from businesses and employees.

Convenient and fast

Ms. Nguyen Thi Quy (Nghi Trung commune, Nghi Loc) is working at BSE Vietnam Electronics Co., Ltd. (Nam Cam Industrial Park). Returning to work after maternity leave, Ms. Quy was guided by the company's Human Resources department to complete the maternity payment procedures. "The common mentality of female workers is that they are very reluctant to do paperwork, I also hesitated several times before going to the office to complete the procedures. However, I did not expect it to be very fast and convenient. The company staff said that about 10 days after transferring the documents, my allowance amount will be paid directly to my personal account by the provincial Social Insurance, without having to waste time going back and forth to see if the money has "arrived" like before" - Ms. Quy happily said.

Manufactured at BSE Vietnam Electronics Co., Ltd. Photo: Phuoc Anh

Like Ms. Quy, for more than 2 months now, many employees at BSE Vietnam Electronics Co., Ltd., Matrix Vinh Co., Ltd., Haivina Kim Lien Co., Ltd. have been very excited to complete the procedures for payment of sick leave, maternity leave, and health recovery benefits. Ms. Dang Vi Anh - a worker at Haivina Kim Lien Co., Ltd. has been participating in social insurance for more than 4 years. A month ago, on the way to work, she unfortunately had a traffic accident and broke her leg.

The company's Human Resources Department instructed her to provide the necessary certification documents to pay sick leave benefits in accordance with the law. Ms. Vi Anh shared: "I thought I had to wait for the company to call to receive the money, but I didn't expect the benefits to be paid directly to my ATM card. When I saw the text message from the bank notifying the provincial Social Insurance to transfer the money, I was very surprised. This form of payment is so convenient for employees."

For businesses, changing the payment method also brings many practical benefits. Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc - Head of Human Resources Department, BSE Vietnam Electronics Co., Ltd. said that for many years, the provincial Social Insurance has made payments to employees through the employer's account, and then the employer transfers the payments to the employee. This "bridging" payment has more or less delayed the payment of benefits to employees.

Therefore, when the provincial Social Insurance implemented direct payments through employees' accounts, the company's leaders responded very well. Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc said: "BSE Vietnam Electronics Co., Ltd. has 2,674 employees, of which 2,364 are currently working, the rest are on maternity leave, raising young children, sick leave... The number of beneficiaries is very large, so the provincial Social Insurance directly paying benefits into employees' accounts helps us reduce workload, save time, and increase productivity." According to observations, the area around the 3 above-mentioned companies all have 3-5 ATMs, which is very convenient for employees to make transactions.

Need to replicate soon

The pilot implementation of payment of sickness, maternity, and health recovery benefits into the personal accounts of employees is considered a remarkable step forward for the provincial Social Insurance sector. It is known that in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance is the first unit to implement this form of payment, and so far, Nghe An is one of the few provinces that has boldly applied it.

Transactions via ATM card are a convenient form that is welcomed by workers. (Illustration photo)

Mr. Hoang Quang Phuc - Deputy Head of Financial Planning Department, Social Insurance of Nghe An province said: For a long time, payment of benefits to employees has been made through the account of the employer.

In fact, this form has some limitations such as the employer transferring money slowly, or even "holding" money for a long time without transferring it to the employee. On the other hand, currently, almost all FDI enterprises and enterprises with a large number of employees in the province have made monthly salary payments via ATM cards, and employees are also very familiar with this form. Those factors are the "driving force" to promote the plan to pay social insurance benefits to employees via personal accounts into practice.

Workers benefit, but the workload becomes even heavier for social insurance officers and employees. If in the past, social insurance only needed to be paid through one "contact point" which is the employer, now it requires more transactions, with thousands of workers being paid each time. The inter-bank transaction fee is paid by the provincial social insurance, and workers do not have to pay any additional fees.

Mr. Hoang Quang Phuc added that after more than 2 months of piloting, the provincial Social Insurance paid benefits to 1,225 people with a total amount of 5 billion 614 million VND, but there was only 1 case of incorrect account numbers due to data entry. Such an error rate is insignificant, but this error also shows that the coordination between the bank, Social Insurance and the employer is still lacking in harmony, and the response to information is still slow.

Mr. Phuc affirmed that in the coming time, the Financial Planning Department will continue to review the process, consult with relevant parties to advise and issue provisions specifying specific responsibilities, improve work quality and efficiency, and strive to avoid errors that affect the rights of workers. On the other hand, after the end of the pilot phase on October 10, 2017, the provincial Social Insurance will research and consider expanding this convenient form of payment.

Phuoc Anh