Loyalty rewards
by Vincent Ciccarello
In
the era of the portfolio career, when five years in one job is
considered a long time, the notion of spending 50 years working for the
same organisation is unthinkable.
And so it is with more than a touch of admiration that UniSANews salutes Beverley Schutt, research and academic administrator in the School of Management, who this month celebrates 50 years as an employee of the University and its antecedent institutions.
Bev, who also has the distinction of being the longest-serving employee, will join four staff members who’ve been employed at UniSA for 40 years and 17 others who’ve worked in the organisation for 25 years, at a University-wide celebration in October to formally recognise their continuous effort and commitment.
Vice Chancellor Professor Denise Bradley AO will extend a big "thank you" on behalf of the University.
"Bev Schutt’s 50 years with UniSA is a remarkable achievement! I am amazed and delighted by her service and loyalty to the University and its founding institutions," the Vice Chancellor said. "The significant number of long-serving staff at UniSA is an indication that we are considered by our toughest critics, our people, to be a flexible and generous employer working in a dynamic and challenging industry."
For her part, Bev owes her first job as junior typist in the School of Mines on a salary of £750 a year to her mother, who applied on her behalf.
"I didn’t want to work," Bev said. "Mum objected, ‘You’ve gone to business college, you’ve got to get a job now’. I said, ‘If you want me to work, you get me the job!’."
Bev
has worked in various administrative roles across most of the Uni’s campuses
and has witnessed changes in technology, policies and people over the years
but does many of the same things she’s always done.
"I seemed to have coped with all the changes, just gone with them and learnt things from them. For me the changes were great, when you consider I was using a big black LC Smith typewriter," she said.
Those who have worked with Bev recall her in earlier days as "the fashion guru, always in stilettos with the painted finger nails and smoking a cigarette" who had prodigious typewriting skills.
"Before PCs and photocopiers, we would have to do multiple carbon copies," one colleague said. "Bev’s last page was always as good as her first, whereas our last few pages were illegible!"
Bev cites one of her career highlights as once again meeting Chancellor David Klingberg – who she knew when he was a student of maths and physics here – at a ceremony for employees who’d served more than 25 years.
"It was just brilliant," Bev said. "It was really my night. I don’t care if I never get another farewell or party."
Of course, her colleagues paid no attention, and organised a suitable celebration last weekend.
For those wondering, Bev won’t disclose her age, except to say retirement is a vague notion in the distant future.