RICS announces package of support to drive member engagement, experience and value

Update from Rory Murphy FRICS, Chair of the Member Services Steering Group (MSSG)

The Member Services Steering Group (MSSG), formerly the Member Engagement Experience and Value working group, is an RICS staff and member collaboration formed in September 2022. This change ensured that the group’s continued work aligned with the Bichard RICS Review recommendations.

The group has listened carefully to member feedback, as well as conducting further outreach, and I am pleased to be able to give you more details about the work that has been delivered since its inception. Particularly around greater transparency for how member fees are spent, more autonomy for regional teams and improved customer service.

Since September 2022, MSSG has delivered:

• 32% more free CPD resources and events for members.
• 100 free face-to-face networking events held globally, with 787 members in attendance over 40 countries.
• Engagement with 3600 Matrics members, through more than 60 regional Matrics events.
• Budget for member engagement events in 2023 has doubled following work to secure funds by the MSSG.
• Member engagement measures have increased year on year rising from 29% in 2021 to 41.4% in 2022, resulting in an uptick in overall member satisfaction globally to 48%, consistently rising for the last two waves of the Survey of the Profession. The MSSG is focused on driving further increases in 2023.
• The MSSG is made up of five world regional board (WRB) Chairs, making it consistent with broader RICS governance.

The MSSG’s work during 2023 and into 2024 will consist of five areas of focus:

1.     Simpler, fairer and clearer subscription fees

To deliver more fairness and transparency in our membership fee structure, a staff/member working group has been created to make recommendations for 2024 subscription levels. This will consider benchmarking with other professional bodies and feasibility of regional adjustments according to the member value offered in each market.

The work will be carried out in two phases – a shorter term piece to confirm 2024 fees in time for the new campaign starting in September 2023 and a medium-term phase to consider more detailed options which will need to sit alongside the wider Commercial Strategy and the Markets Strategy.

2.     More effective member engagement and communication

The WRBs will be given the capacity and capability to deliver relevant and timely messages within their own markets. Initially, a clear framework to set out roles and parameters will be created, with a view to delivering training to ensure communications channels are being used effectively.

3.     More autonomy for WRBs as RICS governance bodies

The five WRBs will be transitioned into RICS governance bodies as part of the ongoing transformation programme. This will give the boards more autonomy to set out priorities relevant to their markets, supported by regional business plans. This transition means that the WRBs will need to be appointed in line with the Global Appointments Model, which is set to be completed by mid-2023. Market advisory panels (MAPs) and Country Boards will be created in the regions, and the Chairs of these panels will sit on WRB to align priorities with the wider market plans.

4.     Increased local resources and activities through funded market plans

More budget will be given to WRBs to enable them to better engage with their local membership. The new governance structure means that the MAPs will create bespoke market plans, in partnership with WRBs, and the increased budget allocated will support them to deliver these plans.

5.     A new and improved customer service experience

We are refreshing our training to member-facing teams on our customer relationship management platform to ensure that complaints, and enquiries, can be tracked and responded to appropriately and on time.

Thank you once again to the my fellow members and RICS staff on this working group for their time and effort to date, in what is a transformative programme of improvement for the Institution.