Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 122
122
( 2025 )
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Employees find a fulfilling career at the ODA
W
hen Ananya
Bhattasali saw the
need to get the best
of the new talent
and ideas that were flooding into
the Ontario Dental Association
(ODA) after the pandemic, she not
only drew up a winning game plan
for her teammates, she designed a
job for herself.
“I said, ‘We need somebody
to herd all these ideas — why
not me?’ and pitched it to my
supervisors and they agreed,” says
Bhattasali, lead, brand strategy
and design. “This is a place where
there’s a high level of respect for
employees and their ideas. People
are taken seriously and valued and
I think that’s important.”
Headquartered in Toronto, the
ODA is the largest dental association in Canada. It’s dedicated to
promoting the highest standard
of dental care and raising public
awareness of the importance of
dental hygiene. It also advocates
for public policies that affect
dentistry and oral health at all
levels of government.
And it offers a safe, respectful
workplace for employees like
Bhattasali, who appreciate the
association’s flexibility, especially
when it comes to work options.
When health challenges made
it difficult for her to commute
to the head office, her managers
arranged for Bhattasali to work
from home.
CEO Frank Bevilacqua says
that’s part of the ODA’s proactive
approach to seeing the whole
employee.
“Here, your health is always a
top priority and we want healthy,
happy employees, so we’re flexible
in order to meet our people’s
needs,” he says.
“Employees really appreciate
that. We continue to see high productivity and we make sure that
people have that good balance in
their lives.”
A comprehensive approach
to health, well-being and skills
advancement allows employees
like Bhattasali to think outside the
box and come up with creative
solutions to any challenges that
Employees on the ODA’s member education team attend the New Dentist Symposium.
may arise. She gets to see her
design and branding ideas come
to life at big stage events like the
ODA’s annual dental conference,
one of the top North American
dental professional continuing
education and trade shows.
“At the ODA, there’s a sense
of professional respect and
trust that you know what
you’re doing and they give
you a space to do it.”
— Ananya Bhattasali
Lead, Brand Strategy
and Design
Large-scale events like that need
a motivated and enthusiastic team
to make them happen. Teamwork
and a sense of unified mission are
foundational to the ODA’s operations and how it treats its employees, says Bevilacqua. Exercises
like Anchor Days bring employees
and managers together to learn
about topics like food security and
activities like spending a day at a
local food bank.
Town hall meetings and robust
online channels bridge any
potential gaps in communications.
Perhaps the most powerful way
to network is through the ODA’s
open door policy. Employees like
Bhattasali are welcome to knock
on Bevilacqua’s, or any other
executive’s door, in person or
virtually, says the CEO.
“Employees tell me we’ve
created a culture with a family
atmosphere and they feel like
members of a family,” he says.
“People want to be part of
