When thinking about my future career I am filled with hope and excitement. So when I talk to my boyfriend’s mom, it confirms these feelings even more. Donna Byerly is a Director/Project Manager for the company Maritz. Which almost exactly the career I am seeking in the future.
- Donna Byerly went to South East Missouri State (SEMO) to be a secretary when she graduated. However, she was in a relationship for over 7 years and decided to get married and to pursue her marriage, she chose for destiny by leaving SEMO.
She ended up at Maritz a performance awarding company and has spent the last 33 years at this company.
Starting as a word processing typist, then Executive Secretaryà then with a large surge in the economy many of the employees in a higher department were worked so hard with so many hours, many walked out, and found other positions through other companies. Thus, Donna picked up a higher position as she worked there for quite some time.
Over these 33 years at Maritz, Donna saw large amounts of change from, no computers, smaller, much more casual, to having an application for the I-Phone, larger, much more business.
One of her memories from when she first started was, her boss would load up a tin bucket with all different types of liquor during the holiday season, because it was so stressful. So anyone could walk down with a cup and get a cup full to calm down a bit. Now a days, that type of thing would not happen or be expectable.
A little history about the company, it actually started as a jewelry company, then after the great depression hit they needed to compromise in order to keep succeeding in the economy. So, they then converted the company into an incentive company, within years there was yet another decline in the company making another change in order, then focusing on research, motivation, and travel. For example; they have done events like the World Cup, NFL, etc.
Through these years, technology has improved, changed drastically. When Donna came into the company there was no voicemail, no fax machines, or even computers. They had to learn how to adjust to computers, messaging, etc. She stated, “Nobody could have imagined the technology in the future, so we were obviously quite resistant at first.”
Social media is a subject that we have talked thoroughly about in my Survey to Professional Media class. This subject was even brought up in my interview with Donna, without even intending.
As the company has progressed they have obviously had to adapt. Well, Maritz had done competitions within the company years ago but stopped for around 10 years. Within the last year they have chosen to get back to those competitions. “Giving a voice to their employees,” Donna stated. She even participated in a competition for creating an application for the I-Phone. Her group even won! The company split $10,000 just for their group and about $55,000 for the entire competition.
She also believes that maybe this is another way of dealing with the Generation Y and accommodating there ways to succeed in the company and enhance their skills.
The final question I asked her was why she has stayed at Maritz for so many years, with the ups and downs, she responds by simply saying, “It’s the people, ask anybody!” Thus, the atmosphere makes the company a good one.
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