Guest lecture on: 'HR policies and practices application in a cutting edge organisation: the case of Embryolab Fertility Clinic'

On 26 May 2022, students of the Business Administration & Economics Department and the Executive MBA programme of CITY College, University of York Europe Campus had the extraordinary opportunity to attend a guest lecture in the Auditorium by Dr Dimitrios Nikolaidis, CEO at Embryolab Fertility Clinic, Thessaloniki (Greece), on 'HR policies and practices application in a cutting edge organisation: the case of Embryolab Fertility Clinic'. The eager audience followed this insightful event both in-person and online as part of the HR Policies and Practices unit led by Dr Giovanni Serafini within the MSc in Management (Human Resource Management) study program.

Thanks to his rich experience both in business and academia, Dr Nikolaidis delivered a highly engaging presentation that stressed the importance of connecting HR policies and practices to organisational values and vision. As he stressed, trust and respect in the workplace are key to enabling human resources to offer added value to the organisation. The implications to HRM are multifaceted: while there is the need to secure an ongoing articulate process involving employee recruitment and selection, the HR function has to provide training, development, and rewards while fostering work in teams. Ultimately, the latter can be attained through a leadership fully engaged in the shared vision, values, and aims, and committed to achieving organisational goals while helping employees attain theirs.

The debate that followed addressed key issues such as reasons for employee turnover, career development, managing organisational change while reducing the fear factor, and why vision and values are becoming more and more important in building a company culture today.

It was an outstanding learning experience bringing a key industry voice to classes at CITY College, University of York Europe Campus.