career paths
ISSUES RELATED TO RETENTION, TURNOVER,
POISONED WORKPLACES, HARASSMENT,
DISCRIMINATION AND BULLYING REALLY AFFECT
PRODUCTIVITY AND COST EMPLOYERS.
productivity and cost employers,” she said.
“As a lawyer, many times I was cleaning up
the mess of mismanaged diversity. I really
wanted to move away from cleaning up the
mess to providing the proactive advice to
prevent the issues from arising in the first
place. That led me to move into this developing
area of HR.”
With a career trajectory that includes
positions at several law firms and
at PricewaterhouseCoopers and George
Brown College, Tatla joined the Ontario
College of Trades in early 2014 as chief diversity
officer (CDO).
HR Professional recently caught up with
Tatla to find out more about this new area
of HR that she calls hugely rewarding, but
“not the easiest job because you’re advocating
for change.”
As CDO for Ontario College of
Trades, what are your main areas of
responsibility?
Sandeep Tatla: I’m really excited about
this role and I am really enjoying how
dynamic and challenging it is. It’s the
first role of its kind in Canada, and I’ve
been told in North America. While most
CDOs are responsible for advancing diversity
and inclusion in organizations,
my mandate is to advance diversity and
inclusion in the trades sector in the
province of Ontario. There are approximate
500,000 tradespeople in Ontario
working in virtually all industries across
the province – including mining, motive
power, construction, natural resources,
industrial and education. In addition
to working with tradespeople, I work
with various stakeholders, including employers,
unions, government, agencies
and educational institutes and special
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ FEBRUARY 2016 ❚ 59