RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – At 100 years old, Walter Orthmann of Brazil is the person with the longest career in a company in the world, spanning more than eight decades.
“It’s remarkable that you wake up in the morning and you have a commitment. When you have a commitment, you don’t feel like time is passing (…) I really love to work,” Orthmann told EFE.
The Brazilian, born in 1922, has worked for a textile company in the city of Brusque in the southern state of Santa Catarina for 84 years and has been named the “world’s oldest civil servant,” according to the Guinness World Record.
The eldest of five siblings, Orthmann’s career began on Jan. 17, 1938, when he was just 15 years old and was hired at Renaux Industries S.A. to help support his family. Gradually, he moved up and climbed the corporate ladder until he became sales manager.
For 60 years he traveled to numerous destinations representing the company, but in 2015 his travels came to an end due to his advanced age. The end of travel, however, did not mean the end of his career.
“I agreed to stop traveling and stay here and help new employees arrive and travel or advise customers on the phone,” he said.
Orthmann said the secret to his longevity with the company lies in his discipline and commitment to his customers, with whom he always sought a nuanced rapport that allowed him to build trusting relationships. “Customers like to talk to me because I know everyone. I know about their lives, what they’re like and what they have,” he said.
During his more than eight decades in the business, he never missed an opportunity to learn new skills and witness firsthand the digital and social transformation Brazil has undergone in recent years. “In my time, there was no such thing, everything was learned by heart. There wasn’t even a calculator,” but “today you can do everything you need with a phone.”
On the company premises where he still works, Orthmann is recognized at every turn and greeted and admired by his colleagues.
A little less than a month ago, the worker celebrated his 100th birthday, although he is emphatic that he has no intention of retiring anytime soon because “there is always something new to learn.” “I continue to work and learn. It will never be possible to know everything. Every day there is something new to learn. You can be 100 years old and still be learning every day,” he says.