While people with lifelong employment contracts are becoming extinct, a guy in Brazil who recently turned 100 set a Guinness record for the ‘longest career in the same company.’
On January 6, 2022, Guinness World Records confirmed that Walter Orthmann had been employed at ReneauxView in Santa Catarina state for eighty-four years and nine days.
According to the organization, his ‘passion, discipline, and commitment’ have driven him to continue working hard at what he loves for the past eight decades or more.
On January 17, 1938, at the age of 15, Orthmann began working as a shipping assistant at a textile company (then known as Industrias Renaux S.A.).
This marked the beginning of his remarkable and illustrious career. Guinness said that he was always eager to learn new things and that he advanced in the firm fast.
With a strong desire to learn, he walked barefoot to school in his early years, come rain or shine, mud or frost, from his birth in the small German-populated town of Brusque.
He was an excellent student who paid attention to detail and had a sharp memory. However, because of financial difficulties,
he went to work with his mother at a weaving mill, where his German skills got him recruited. Since then, he has been employed there.
Orthmann told Guinness, ‘Back in 1938, kids were expected to work to help support the family.’ ‘At the age of 14, my mother took me to find a job because I’m the oldest son out of five.’
He went above and above to fulfill his responsibilities and had an extraordinary eagerness to learn.
Soon after, he received a promotion to a sales role and went on to become a prosperous sales manager.
‘I was offered the chance to work as a sales representative,’ he declared. ‘I went to São Paulo,
and I filled the production with orders equal to three months of work in less than a week.”
The nicest aspects of working include a feeling of ‘purpose, commitment, and a routine,’ he said. It also afforded him the opportunity
to travel and build strong bonds with clients that turned into friendships. He met people from all across the nation and cultures throughout his travels in the 1950s.
He remarked, ‘We don’t notice the passing of time when we do what we like.’
On April 19, 2023, Orthmann reached 100 years old. He celebrated with friends, family, and coworkers.
According to Guinness, he is still in terrific health today and has outstanding memory and mental clarity.
He drives to the location he considers most meaningful every day—the office—with the support of his daily workout, which helps him keep sufficient energy.
Living in the present is what he has learned about life from almost eight decades of working in the same field.
He said, ‘I don’t plan much, and I don’t really care about tomorrow.’ You should focus on the here and now rather than the past or the future.
All that matters to me is that tomorrow will be just another day that I wake up, get dressed, work out, and go to work. What matters is the here and now. Let’s get to work now!
In fact, the century man beat his own record, which he had achieved in 2019 with 81 years and 85 days.