122( 2025 )SPONSOR CONTENTEmployees find a fulfilling career at the ODAWhen AnanyaBhattasali saw theneed to get the bestof the new talentand ideas that were flooding intothe Ontario Dental Association(ODA) after the pandemic, she notonly drew up a winning game planfor her teammates, she designed ajob for herself.“I said, ‘We need somebodyto herd all these ideas — whynot me?’ and pitched it to mysupervisors and they agreed,” saysBhattasali, lead, brand strategyand design. “This is a place wherethere’s a high level of respect foremployees and their ideas. Peopleare taken seriously and valued andI think that’s important.”Headquartered in Toronto, theODA is the largest dental association in Canada. It’s dedicated topromoting the highest standardof dental care and raising publicawareness of the importance ofdental hygiene. It also advocatesfor public policies that affectdentistry and oral health at alllevels of government.And it offers a safe, respectfulworkplace for employees likeBhattasali, who appreciate theassociation’s flexibility, especiallywhen it comes to work options.When health challenges madeit difficult for her to commuteto the head office, her managersarranged for Bhattasali to workfrom home.CEO Frank Bevilacqua saysthat’s part of the ODA’s proactiveapproach to seeing the wholeemployee.“Here, your health is always atop priority and we want healthy,happy employees, so we’re flexiblein order to meet our people’sneeds,” he says.“Employees really appreciatethat. We continue to see high productivity and we make sure thatpeople have that good balance intheir lives.”A comprehensive approachto health, well-being and skillsadvancement allows employeeslike Bhattasali to think outside thebox and come up with creativesolutions to any challenges that Employees on the ODA’s member education team attend the New Dentist Symposium.may arise. She gets to see herdesign and branding ideas cometo life at big stage events like theODA’s annual dental conference,one of the top North Americandental professional continuingeducation and trade shows.“At the ODA, there’s a senseof professional respect andtrust that you know whatyou’re doing and they giveyou a space to do it.”— Ananya BhattasaliLead, Brand Strategyand DesignLarge-scale events like that needa motivated and enthusiastic teamto make them happen. Teamworkand a sense of unified mission arefoundational to the ODA’s operations and how it treats its employees, says Bevilacqua. Exerciseslike Anchor Days bring employeesand managers together to learnabout topics like food security andactivities like spending a day at alocal food bank.Town hall meetings and robustonline channels bridge anypotential gaps in communications.Perhaps the most powerful wayto network is through the ODA’sopen door policy. Employees likeBhattasali are welcome to knockon Bevilacqua’s, or any otherexecutive’s door, in person orvirtually, says the CEO.“Employees tell me we’vecreated a culture with a familyatmosphere and they feel likemembers of a family,” he says.“People want to be part of
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