The Institute’s enabling charter provides for three broad categories of membership. These are: individual, Corporate and honourary membership.

Individual Membership

Under the first category there are six grades. Three of the grades are non-professional while the remaining three are professional grades. The grades of student, Affiliate and graduate are the three non- professional grades. This means that a person who is on any one of them is required either to write and pass some qualifying examinations, or continue to perform core HR functions that would earn him professional status.

The grades of Associate, Full member and Fellow are the three professional grades; out of the three, the grade of Fellow is the highest to which a member can aspire.

Members in the professional grades use the following letters to show their status.

Corporate Membership

Corporate Membership is open to all corporations. For ease of administration, corporations have been grouped along sectoral lines viz: Oil and Gas sector, Banking and Finance services sector, Manufacturing sector, Public Service sector and Services sector.

Corporate Membership Subscription Table
 

Category	Turnover	Subscription Rate
A	N500m and above	40,000.00
B	N100m and 500m	32, 000.00
C	N50m below 100m	20, 000.00
D	N10m and 50m	10, 000.00
Educational Institutions		10, 000.00
Ministerial Departments		10, 000.00
Labour Union		10, 000.00
Consultancy Firms		10, 000.00

Honorary Membership

Honorary Membership is not made open like the first two categories, but is usually conferred on persons who have distinguished themselves in their chosen vocation and have been valuable both to the Institute and to the nation.