Thursday, 8 February, 2018
Jenny Bergquist, who has worked with Newcastle Permanent for 40 years, said she believed the organisation had thrived for so long because it always put ‘customers first’.
"I have always been proud to say that I work for Newcastle Permanent," Jenny said. "We’re a strong, honest institution that always puts customers first. And our staff members are the most reliable and friendly group of people in this industry."
"After having my two daughters, I had the flexibility to come back either as a casual or part-time, which suited my family and allowed me to continue working."
Jenny, who now works from our Belmont branch, started work with Newcastle Permanent as a 19-year-old ‘cashier’ at Charlestown in 1978.
Leonnie Stocks is another of our long-serving employees. Leonnie, who started work with us as a 16-year-old cashier in 1977, said she had seen many changes over her time.
"There have been some big technology changes," she said. "Everything was recorded by hand on yellow cards that were put into a ledger machine that typed the transactions for us. No identification was needed to open an account and we knew all our members by name.
"When I started there was only one savings account and one type of loan account, and now we offer many different types of accounts to better suit our customers."
Leonnie agreed that Newcastle Permanent had been in business for so long because "we are here for our customers".