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Leonhard Nitsche, 68 years old, retired five years ago. Nevertheless, the man from Geldern is on call for work at Peters four days a month. As a part-time employee, the chemical worker earns extra money and fills his free time in a meaningful way. "The company has always been good to me. So today I like to give something back to the company," says the sprightly retiree.
Leonhard Nitsche has been loyal to his employer Peters for more than 20 years. Recently, Peters CEO Ralf Schwartz honoured him for this. When he received the call in 2018, "Do you want to continue working for Peters in a mini-job?" the native of Silesia hardly hesitated more than three seconds before agreeing. "The money certainly didn't play the main role. For me, it was about being among people and doing something for my brains," reports the locksmith.
Leonhard Nitsche appreciates the value of the work that Peters offers. In 1981, the skilled craftsman fled Poland. As a member of the German minority in Opole, south of Wroclaw, he no longer felt at home. He and his family found a new home in the west of Germany via a stopover in Berlin. After initial years in Duisburg, the Nitsches were able to purchase a house in Geldern in 1992, where they still live happily today.
The family includes three grown-up children and an eight-month-old grandson. In 2000, Leonhard Nitsche lost his job as a fitter in a steam boiler company due to redundancy. Two years later, at the age of 47, he found a job as a chemical technician at Peters through a friend. "I've been working for more than half a century now and couldn't imagine it any other way," says the physically and mentally fit 1955 vintage.
At Peters, on the other hand, people appreciate the fact that Leonhard Nitsche is not too shy for any job and lends a hand wherever he is needed. The locksmith's shop is his professional cradle, but his skills and thorough approach are also worth a lot in bottling, for example, when it comes to cleaning barrels. The drive and stamina with which he works at Peters is no coincidence: "Health is important to me. I cycle a lot, at least 15 kilometres a day.”
Leonhard Nitsche is not the only retiree in the company whose skills we trust beyond retirement age," says CEO Ralf Schwartz. What counts is not the number of years of life, but the quality of the work delivered and the attitude towards the company. "Here we feel a high level of commitment and are grateful to employees like Leonhard Nitsche for their dedication to us." In Nitsche's case, it is also remarkable that a career changer who only joined Peters at a ripe age was able to celebrate a company anniversary.
