Auberle is a sprawling Pittsburgh-area social service nonprofit that has been named “Top Workplace” nine times by The Pittsburgh Business Times, and is described by employees as flexible, supportive, comfortable, and safe. In this episode, Rusty speaks with Abby Wolensky and Ashley Pesi, Director and Program Manager (respectively) in Auberle’s workforce development program, about the various ways the organization supports and develops its staff.
Our guests explain how the organization is devoted to breaking cycles of poverty and socio-economic distress not only for their clients but also their staff. To do so, they have continuously raised the floor on wages (without outside incentives or specific external funding for this purpose); hire from internships; offer numerous professional development opportunities; build their strategic plans from within teams; and more. Other topics discussed include:

Working through the pandemic and added hazard pay.
The Rising Star Academy: an internal training initiative to promote professional growth, crossed-departmental learning, and bottom-up thinking.
Auberle’s unique strategic planning process.
“Challenging Conversations for Change” and other equity and inclusion efforts.
Organizational culture and employee-employer loyalty at Auberle.


To get more information on the founders of Auberle & links to resources mentioned in the episode please visit www.fundthepeople.org/podcast