IN THE SPOTLIGHT – JACQUELINE GREENE: A Planner and Problem Solver In your own words how would you describe Jacqueline Greene? When I look at things, whether it’s something I want on a personal level or something on a professional level, I really take a moment to figure out what’s the end goal that I’m trying to achieve. And then I back it up and think about what the steps are to get there. I look at life the same way, it’s like having a map to a place you’re trying to go. And if you don’t have a map or don’t know where you’re trying to go, you can waste a lot of time getting nowhere. So, Jackie’s a planner, Jackie is a problem solver. What is your typical day as a Service Delivery Manager at the RSCE? Honestly, I don’t have a typical day. Service Delivery Manager means I’m jumping in to support wherever my team needs help, and I have Onboarding and Separations, International and National Benefits, Entitlements, Payroll, as well as Uniform Personnel. So, I can have a problem or one of my team members could have a challenge coming from any of those angles. When I look at my day, it’s trying to address issues. For me, trying to figure out a collaborative approach to something is critical, because I’m trying to figure out how do we not only solve this problem but keep the problem from happening again. Sometimes we need to look at not just solving X, but making sure X doesn’t repeat, or training our staff, or helping my managers think of things in a different manner. How would you describe the Benefits and Entitlements as a section that deals with staff entitlements?
Jacqueline Greene is the Service Delivery Manager of the Benefits and Entitlements Section. She had an interview with Elysee Niyigena on her life, work and her take on the role of women in peacekeeping.
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The way I see it, if it deals with your money, it deals with us. In a nutshell, we are the service lines that you work with to join, to receive your pay, to get your entitlements and benefits, and then when you separate. We work with you from the beginning to the end. We are the people who make sure your information is in Umoja accurately, so that you get the pay and entitlements you’re due. Without us, you don’t get paid, you don’t have insurance, you are signed-up with the Pension Fund, it is all us. How do you ensure that the people you serve get the service they need, on time? The reality is it’s a big team and everybody must work together. We work with our clients to get information that we need to proceed, we ensure Umoja is updated, and that benefits, entitlements, and pay are processed. When I say together, I mean the client missions, the staff members, the uniformed personnel as well as RSCE because
we all have a role to play. If you think about dependents, we can’t add your dependents if you don’t give us the right information, if you don’t put that information in Employee Self Service on a timely manner, we can’t do anything. If the mission doesn’t verify the documents before they are submitted, we can’t do anything. We all must work together to achieve the goals of effectively and efficiently making sure people are in the system, their dependents are there, they are being paid in a timely manner. But it’s a collective, it requires all of us working together. When you are not at work, what activities do you like to involve yourself in to keep your mind off the job? I am very much into pampering myself, walking around in Entebbe, seeing all the different animals. I find it fascinating. Travel is critical for me; I love seeing the world. One of the main reasons I joined the UN was to see other cultures and experience other places. I also, love jazz and action movies as well as talking to my family and friends and having a good reason to laugh. Things of that nature. Why Uganda? When I was looking for my next opportunity, I really took a moment to figure out where could I contribute, what would be a stretch assignment, but not too far out of my realm of possibilities. I think it’s important to be in a position where I can grow, but not one where I’m overly stressed, and I really can’t handle it. I’m a firm believer to thine own self be true. You got to know who you are and what works for you. You got to know what your skill set is, and you got to manage and be realistic about that. So, when I was looking at the opportunity, I was looking at what did the job description say? What were the details? What were probably some of the problems that I would encounter? Could I contribute, could I grow, but also could I do it without being overwhelmed because quality of life is important to me. Before Joining RSCE Before I joined the UN, I spent approximately 15 years or more as a consultant. I was with one of the world’s largest human resources consulting firms at the time. I’ve had the pleasure of setting up centers of excellence or doing system implementations that are HR focused. So, I had a lot of experience in project managing and planning, which ends up being part of why I believe in planning. Then I joined the UN. I started out in the Health and Life insurance section in New York. I had the chance to go to ONUCI in Cote d’Ivoire as an HR officer. I’ve worked in recruitment within the UN, I’ve worked for UNFCCC, the climate change body out of Germany and UNRWA in Jordan that provides support for the Palestine refugees. I’ve had a nice opportunity to move around and see what the UN’s made of. I think each U.N. entity has its own flavor. 7
