Pulse Staff Newsletter

We partner with Marissa Nel & Associates, a medical orthotic and prosthetic facility, to provide pensioners insured by RMA, who have been disabled or physically challenged as a result of their work-related injuries, with treatment from a mobile clinic. The mobile clinic offers unique medical access to pensioners insured by RMA and travels both within South Africa and to six neighbouring countries. This initiative enables us to interact with and understand the social needs of the pensioners.

During visits to the pensioners, prosthetic limbs are made, and repairs are done, on-site. Our promise of Caring Compassionate Compensation is carried through by assessing the socio-economic circumstances of our pensioners and, where necessary, they are assisted with numerous food projects and upliftment programmes. These include the provision of seeds and gardening implements from the social fund, house renovations and the donation of shoes and clothes.

Mobile clinic travels to Malawi

The RMA team and Marissa Nel team embarked on a week’s’ journey to Malawi for the annual mobile clinic in June, visiting the cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe. On their trip to Blantyre, a city in the southern part of Malawi they visited the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where the pensioners were in good spirits even through the hardships that they face daily. The team attended to 4 pensioners with health-related concerns and referred one pensioner to the local hospital to be further assessed.  A distribution table was set up at the hospital to hand out all the generous donations contributed by RMA staff and other stakeholders.

Their next stop was Lilongwe the capital city of Malawi, where they visited the Kamuzu Hospital and found that the pensioners appeared more active and their prosthetics needed more intensive repairs.  These pensioners were happy to have visitors and shared with the team some of their stories.
One story that resonated with the team was of Mr Phiri a well-known and successful farmer in his village. Dedicated to helping his community Mr Phiri had started a school in his village some time ago and had brought along a photo album of his time and work put into to this school. However, the intense Tropical Cyclone Idai that passed through the town in March this year, had caused major destruction to the school, leaving the community with many challenges to get back on track. Despite the current circumstances that Mr Phiri faces he also shared with the team the success of his crops on his farm.

The last stop in Lilongwe was a home visit where the team travelled more than 60Km from the city to see a pensioner, it was this visit that brought on the awareness of the challenges that our pensioners face and how important the mobile clinic visits are.

“The Malawi Mobile Clinic adds value to our pensioners and is a humbling experience. It is hard work, but the spirit and dedication of the team lightens the load. I am proud to be part of the Malawi Mobile team,” said Sue Rundle, PMCA Team Leader.

If you need further information on the Mobile Clinic, you may chat with our Medical team.

 

RMA Gears up for GDPR and the POPI Act

You may have heard the acronyms GDPR and POPIA floating around the business but what do they mean for us at RMA?

Why is GDRP important to RMA?

GDPR are the European Data Protection Regulations and the primary legal privacy framework in the European Union (EU). GDPR affects how personal information must be processed to ensure the protection of the rights and freedoms of natural persons in the EU. This is relevant for us because we currently have beneficiaries (pensions) based in EU countries and members with employees working in EU countries.

Microsoft Azure and Office 365 (hosted in EU data centres) are used for sending emails, storing data and security checks. MIMECAST is used for email archiving and for checking and filtering of SPAM and viruses in emails. Staff information is also saved to Microsoft ONE drive. Which means that, RMA has data stored in the EU.  
Although RMA is not established in the EU and may not be marketing to or monitoring living persons in the EU, but because Microsoft is established in the EU it will be subject to the relevant provisions of the GDPR and may impose certain of these obligations on RMA when the parties enter into data processing agreements.

Why is POPIA important to RMA?

POPIA is the Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 which provides the protection of the right to privacy for natural and juristic (companies) persons.  POPIA introduces requirements for the processing of personal information by parties like us. The POPIA Regulations were finalised and published in the Government Gazette on 14 December 2018 with the effective date yet to be announced.

What is personal information?

Personal information means information that includes but is not limited to:
•    Contact details of the person - e-mail address, physical address, telephone number, etc
•    Biometric information of the person – blood type, fingerprints, etc
•    History of the person – education, medical, financial, criminal or employment
•    Demographic information of the person – ID, age, gender, race, ethnicity, birth date, etc
•    Private correspondence sent by the person – any private and confidential correspondence
•    Opinions of and about the person - the views or opinions of another individual about the person

What is RMA doing to ensure compliance with these privacy laws?

With regards to the GDPR, all contracts entered into between RMA and Microsoft have been reviewed and submitted for discussion between the parties.
The key requirements of POPIA are the implementation of a compliance framework and the performance of personal information impact assessments covering the processing of personal information by RMA and its service providers.

The compliance framework will ensure that the actions taken by responsible parties to protect the rights of data subjects are effective. A successful framework will establish a solution for designing and implementing measures, safeguards and processes for responsible parties which are needed to comply with POPIA, and which information officers can use to monitor the status of compliance. To comply with the requirements, we have launched the GDPR and POPIA Project Phase 1.

GDPR and POPIA Project Phase 1

This project kicked off during the month of February 2019 and the focus areas for Phase 1 of the GDPR and POPIA Compliance Project for the first 6 months are currently in progress within Membership, Claims, Medical Benefits and ICT.

We will keep you informed of all upcoming changes. If you need further information on GDPR and POPIA, you may chat with our Legal team.

 

What you need to know about the RMA Laptop Policy

We want to keep you updated on the latest regarding the RMA policies, so we’ve put together a summary of the RMA Laptop policy, to guide you on your responsibilities, if you are issued with a laptop.

Use of personal Computers, Hardware and related Company assets:

Personal computers, hardware, software and related company assets, must be safeguarded against environmental hazards (dust, excessive heat, damp, lightning etc.) and unauthorised use at all times.

As with other Company assets, no computer hardware or software may be removed from the Company’s premises without authorisation from the employee’s supervisor.
Laptops and other moveable computer devices must be locked away or secured when the employee is away from his/her work area.  While an employee is away on extended absence from the workplace, not making use of such devices or on leave, they must be handed to the IT Department for safekeeping. Equipment taken home (including Laptops) must be secured at all times and not left unattended in vehicles and other public places.

Purchases of all computer hardware, software, and peripheral hardware must be approved by the employee’s Departmental Manager and the Company’s Information Technology Department in accordance with Company purchasing procedures.

All computer, hardware and software problems must be reported to the designated call champion and logged with the ICT Helpdesk.

In the event that the employee damages the company’s computer(s), hardware and any other company related asset, and is found by the insurer to have been negligent, that employee would be required to pay any excess or costs that may be levied in terms of the company insurance cover or too repair the damage.  

Insurance

RMA Membership department will be responsible for ensuring that the equipment is adequately insured.  Claims Management will be responsible for processing of any claims with the respected insurance company.

Each staff allocated a Laptop is personally responsible for the Laptop while off duty. They are also responsible to ensure that the Laptop is adequately secured (locked down) while at their normal office workstation. RMA staff is liable for the insurance access or replacement cost should the equipment be damaged, stolen or lost while in their care either at work or home. 

Upgrading of Technology

RMA ICT and Finance will be responsible for the strategy when ICT services, contracts or equipment should be renewed.  This would however be driven by the financial life of these services and the current trends in the technology space. Currently the renewal Policy will be every 3 years.
Find out more information on the RMA Laptop policy here.

 

We collaborated with Cell C in supporting their socio-development programme aimed at motivating and empowering school-going girls. The value of this programme is to expose and empower girls on their paths of career development. This year, the initiative was extended to girls in grade 8 to 12. We partnered with neighbouring schools such as Rand Girls High and St Enda’s Secondary School along with other learners from schools in Johannesburg.

We believe it is important that girls are exposed to accomplished female role models that are great examples for igniting a girls’ passion for leadership and excellence. As part of the agenda for the three workshops taking place until 30 August is a line-up of successful career women engaging learners on what to expect in the work-place, delivered through a motivational workshop by Malebo Sepodi, a South African writer and researcher that has worked with many schools, NGO’s and the private sector tackling numerous socio-economic projects.

These career sessions also provide students with information on our skills development programmes such as the Learnership and Internship programmes as well as possible career opportunities within the company. The students have the opportunity to also engage with our staff working in specialised career fields to gain a better understanding of their career journeys.

“RMA lives by its caring and compassionate way. We see it as a privilege to help communities further their skills and enjoy seeing people being educated, reaching for their dreams and achieving their goals. We live to see the joy on people’s faces when they’re empowered and improve their standard of living. Lending a helping hand is what warms our hearts,” said Gracious Bambisa, Marketing Manager at RMA.

 

#ActionAgainstPoverty

Mandela Day calls on all of us, every day, to make the world a better place!
RMA will join in with the rest of the world in making every day a Mandela Day, that celebrates Madiba’s life and legacy in a sustainable way that brings about enduring change in our surrounding communities.

Join in to act against poverty

Volunteer as a department to take part by being of service to organisations in need. Organisations can include crèches, orphanages, feeding schemes, schools for the disabled and old age homes, etc.

Types of activities the teams can do

Services can include anything from donating food parcels, cleaning and painting, clothing, toiletries, stationery, tutoring programmes etc. They can also consider finding a charity that is involved in a mission that they find important and contribute to that cause.

The proposed initiatives can kick off from 18 July 2019 and still continue for the remainder of the month. This is to allow for Departmental rotations.
Help us commemorate Nelson Mandela by acting Against Poverty.

 

At RMA we are about people and value all our employees, that’s why we take the time to acknowledge employees for exemplary performance, through our RMA Recognition Scheme. On 25 June 2019 we hosted the RMA recognition awards where employees who demonstrated innovation, living the RMA values or saved the organisation costs, were awarded for their efforts.
We would like to thank you for making a meaningful contribution to the success of RMA. Your hard work and dedication to always go the extra mile in order to achieve the best possible results is admirable.

Congratulations to the 2019 June winners!

The next instalment of the RMA Recognition Scheme will kick off later this year. Don’t forget that we have added additional nomination criteria, giving you more opportunities to get recognised. These include the following:

•    Employees who have taken on additional roles such as Risk Champions, and\or playing active roles on various committees and forums will have an added advantage as this further supports their commitment to the improvement of RMA.
•    Employees who complete a course (or courses) via LinkedIn Learning and apply the acquired skills, will also benefit as this will stand them in good stead with the Review Panel of the scheme.

Remember Platinum award winners automatically qualify for entry into the Year-end Staff Awards.

Well done and keep up the great work!