Who is Stephan?
If you want to get to know colleague Stéphan Pieterse, you just need to read his “sentence“: (Ref: D.Pink) “He was a grandmaster system developer, implementer and optimiser, using his unique creative mastery and passion for people and organisational development to help ensure the growth and success of organisations and the people working for them.”This just about sums him up.
Stéphan matriculated in 1991 at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch. He then completed a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch in 1995. Says Stéphan: “The first five years of my mechanical engineering career was spent at a pharmaceutical company, Fine Chemicals Corporation. I then joined Nampak Tissue in 2000 and in 2001 I obtained my professional engineering status with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).”In 2007, he joined Pragma as Service Manager, responsible for CRM, product support development work as well as product training.
“During the first few years of the new millennium I realised that I was slowly but surely building the foundations of a new career. A career focused on people and the environments they need to work in. In 2008 I was appointed as Pragma’s Talent&Organisational Development Manager and in December 2010 as People and Organisational Development Manager. This position also incorporated the transactional HR function. The main objectives of that role were to ensure that the unique Pragma culture gets embedded and improved throughout the organisation. Pragma’s employees also had to be developed into specialists in their fields – all of this to enhance the experience the employees have while working, but also the experience Pragma’s clients have when dealing with our employees.”
With Stéphan’s drive and the assistance of Pragma’s leadership team, Pragma has ensured a world class employee engagement figure of 72% (Oct 2012 survey), as well as a 4th and a 6th spot (small company category) in the 2012 and 2013 Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey respectively. Pragma also has a very low employee turnover rate of approximately 7%.
From October 2013, Stéphan was given the opportunity to focus fully on the utilisation of his strengths in the field of organisational development, when the transactional HR management function was outsourced by Pragma.
Stéphan continues: “I can now truly say that I am one of those, on average, two out of ten privileged individuals who utilises their strengths most of the time while at work.”
His professional interests include organisational development (OD) subjects like employee engagement, company culture, communication, learning and development and strengths management. In his spare time his family comes first but he also loves to read OD books, involves himself in community work, photography, videography, gardening and golf – something he says that keeps him very humble.
Stéphan is married to Yolanda and they have two beautiful daughters, Karla (9) and Caro (12). They live in Somerset-West. “In a nutshell, I’m an ex-engineer who is energised by assisting people to realise their full potential and to bring about organisational change to support that. My favorite quote is Ghandi’s ‘Be the change you want to see in this world’. In my quest for a life of significance, I am involved in a non-profit organisation, Distance For Difference (www.d4dsa.co.za or www.facebook.com/D4DSA). We generate funds for organisations working with children in need.
I’ve made many mistakes in life and hurt people in the process. I have however been saved and these days my life’s purpose is to glorify God through everything I do. All glory belongs to Him!
A final word about Pragma: “Pragma has given me the opportunity to start my new career and I believe we continue to create a working environment that is fit for human beings. It is a great place to work for, it has a lot of amazing people and a future that is looking very bright!”
