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NHT wins inaugural Public Sector Productivity competition

Published:Saturday | June 29, 2024 | 12:06 AM
Sharing in team NHT’s excitement are; Pearnel Charles Jr. MP, Minister of Labour and Social Security (fourth right) and Dr. Norman Dunn, Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (fourth left). Team NHT include (from left): Ainsley
Contributed
Sharing in team NHT’s excitement are; Pearnel Charles Jr. MP, Minister of Labour and Social Security (fourth right) and Dr. Norman Dunn, Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (fourth left). Team NHT include (from left): Ainsley McDonald, Acting Manager, Loan Accounting; Roshane Thompson, Acting Loan Portfolio Officer; Shaniek Robinson, Acting ISO 9001 Project Manager; Dr Suzanne Wynter, General Manager Loan Manager; Dr Lanie Oakley Williams, Senior General Manager, Customer Relations Management; Damion Reid, Acting Manager, Loan Management and Shirley Pryce, Senior Social Development Officer. Contributed

The National Housing Trust (NHT) was declared winners of the inaugural Public Sector Productivity Competition, at a special awards ceremony held on Friday, June 21.

The competition, which was organised by the Jamaica Productivity Centre (JPC), through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, was geared towards encouraging public bodies to implement innovative strategies to improve productivity and service delivery.

The NHT’s Special Assistance Programme was selected as the project for the competition. The Special Assistance Programme aims to provide relief to active NHT loan beneficiaries who are unable to fulfil their monthly payment obligation due to unforeseen circumstances, but maintain a strong desire to keep the mortgaged property.

Dr Suzanne Wynter, general manager of loan management at the NHT, shared that the team made several enhancements to the programme to improve the overall customer experience.

“We designed a model to identify the most appropriate special assistance option for the customer upon entering the required information. This tool eliminates the need to conduct extensive manual reviews of the customer’s circumstance in order to identify a suitable special assistance option,” shared Dr Wynter. The initiatives implemented were hailed as a welcomed addition to the NHT customer experience. Senior General Manager for Customer Relations Management Dr Lanie Oakley-Williams said the award reflects the NHT’s overall deliberate efforts to improve customer service delivery and awareness.

“We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible service, and this recognition from the Jamaica Productivity Centre is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team. This win underscores our ongoing efforts to improve customer experience through reviews of products to make them more relevant to our customer needs, introducing technology into key business processes and ongoing training of our staff,” said Dr Oakley-Williams.

She also commended the JPC for initiating the competition which she declared was a driving force for positive changes across public sector bodies and other entities.

In 2022, the NHT copped three top awards at the Public Bodies Corporate Governance Awards and received its certification from the International Organization for Standardization, ISO certification, a globally recognised standard for quality management.