For most people, getting a job contract is already an achievement in a business environment that is as changing as the current one. So it is surprising to find a person who can add value to the same company throughout their long professional career. Who said generational change?

From time to time the stars align to bring about extraordinary events. Two years ago Brazilian Walter Orthmannbecame one of the chosen people with more than a hundred years of experience in the world and broke one of the most amazing records: the world record for the longest professional career, working in the same company for 86 years.

Orthmann started working at Industrias Renaux SA, a textile company in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, when she was just 15 years old. Her family’s financial difficulties led her to look for work. “In 1938, children were expected to work to support the family. As the oldest child of five, my mother took me to look for work when I was 14,” commented Walter Orthmann.

At that time, it was common for young people to go to work in companies as apprentices or errand boys. January 17, 1938young Walter started working as a shipping assistant. Through this position, Orthmann had his first contact with the products manufactured in the company and their distribution to customers.

The young man’s good character allowed him to move up the organizational chart of the company, which managed to survive despite the passing time and crises, and the only change he experienced was in its name, which was updated to RenauxView a few years ago.

He has come a long way in his 86-year career, but Walter has always preferred to be close to the product and the customers, so he fit into the company’s sales department like a glove and became sales director. “They gave me the opportunity to work as a salesman. I went to São Paulo and in less than a week I filled production with orders equivalent to three months of work,” he said, presenting the Guinness World Record certificate.

Have a purpose, determination and a routine

Working as a sales manager gave him the opportunity to travel the world and get to know his country better, and one of the lessons he learned from having such a long career was to always be up to date and adapt to new contexts to move forward. So much so that Mr. Walter even has a profile on Instagram.

According to Walter this Continuous Learning It becomes a purpose in your daily life and means that even though you have over 100 years behind you, you still drive yourself to work every day. “I don’t make many plans and I don’t really care about tomorrow. All I care about is that tomorrow is another day where I get up, get up, exercise and go to work. You have to deal with the present, not the past or the future. What matters is the here and now. So let’s get to work!”

Walter Orthmann in his office

Walter’s genetics helped him reach his milestone. Despite his age, the senior sales manager exercises daily and has excellent mental clarity and memory. Orthmann says the best professional advice he can give is to try Working in a good company and in a space where you feel motivated. “When we do what we love, we don’t notice the time passing.”

At the beginning of 2024, Walter Orthmann, who had already blown out the candles on his 102nd birthday, had to end his 86-year professional career in order to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

Retirement age at centre of debate

Orthmann’s case is anecdotal because he is a very old man, but taken to extremes, it reflects this: improving people’s life expectancy This is prompting many governments to gradually extend the retirement age, leaving the door open for fully-fledged people like Walter to continue their activities for as long as they want.

Brazil’s pension system, like many others around the world, was recently revised to postpone the legal retirement age to 65, after having completed a minimum of 35 years of contributions. Mr. Walter is clearly far behind him, and their motivations are different, but his example suggests that life expectancy has risen from 54 years in 1960 to 74 in 2018.

If Brazil had not reformed its pension, it would now spend 20 percent of its GDP on retirement. Extending the retirement age has eased that pressure, ensuring that people like Walter don’t have to keep working to earn a decent pension, as they do in the United States.

Water has demonstrated its unwavering commitment to RenauxView for 86 years, but The respect was mutualIt’s something the veteran noted in an interview with CNN. “At my age, I couldn’t find a job anywhere else, and they take such good care of me here.” There’s no doubt that in a work environment as volatile as today’s, values ​​are in danger of disappearing.

Leaving aside the friendly face of Walter Orthmann’s example, maintaining such an elderly workforce reduces companies’ productivity and competitiveness, and harms young people under the age of 25, whose youth unemployment rate in Spain is 27.4%. The unemployment rate for people over the age of 45, who still have a lot to contribute to the labor market, is at 11.54%.

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Image | Guinness World Records

*A previous version of this article was published in August 2023.