Sharon De Mascia, Author at Cognoscenti Business Psychologists

Men’s Mental Health Matters

Posted on May 19, 2021May 19, 2021 by Sharon De Mascia

Men experience mental wellbeing issues differently than women. They exhibit different symptoms and require different support than women. Given that Covid 19 has had a negative impact on mental wellbeing, it is important to remember these differences and ensure that any wellbeing intiatives or support offered, meet the needs of both genders. In this article (published some time ago), I talk about these differences between men and women and how most organisations operate a female model of wel...
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Manage the Well As Well As The Ill

Posted on September 16, 2020 by Sharon De Mascia

“Maintaining the mental wellbeing of employees who are currently thriving is going to be a crucial element of managing teams during Covid 19”. Managers Are the Key to Employee Wellbeing Managing mental wellbeing, however, is not just about supporting the unwell, it is also about positive wellbeing, i.e. managing risks to employee mental wellbeing and creating an environment where employees will thrive. This is going to be crucial to help employees maintain their mental wellbeing...
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Performance Appraisal And Growth Mind-Sets?

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Sharon De Mascia

Covid 19 is encouraging us to reflect on and change a number of things. and given that we are now doing a number of things differently, this could be a good time to rethink not only how we manage performance but how we move to more growth mindsets and positive approaches to work. Performance appraisals are carried out with differing degrees of success across organisations, but they tend to follow the same formula. Employees are assessed on an annual/twice per year basis, against com...
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Supporting Returners Mental Wellbeing

Posted on July 20, 2020July 20, 2020 by Sharon De Mascia

What Issues Are Organisations Facing Now? We are now starting to move out of lockdown which is good news but given that we are still living with risk, there are some factors that organisations will have to give serious consideration to. Some employees will be looking forward to being co-located with others whilst others will be dreading it. Even those who are looking forward to working in the same room/office will have fears and concerns about their health and that of their families. Some empl...
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Covid 19 Research And Employee Mental Wellbeing

Posted on July 10, 2020July 10, 2020 by Sharon De Mascia

What The Research Says In this 30 minute webinar about mental wellbeing, we explore the emerging psychological research on the impact of Covid 19 on employees and explore what this means for organisations trying to get people back to work. We know from the research that there has been an impact on overall mental wellbeing. We also know that the situation could get worse before it gets better and that many employees are apprehensive about travelling to work on public transport and many are...
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Is Your Wellbeing Strategy Working Well?

Posted on May 7, 2020 by Sharon De Mascia

Many organisations have wellbeing strategies which use practical offerings such as ‘Fruit on Friday’, Mindfulness at lunchtime, subsidised gym passes, etc. There have always been limitations to the effectiveness of these types of isolated approaches to managing wellbeing, however, given the current situation with a significant proportion of people now working remotely, these types of initiatives have little impact. If your wellbeing strategy was organised along these lines then it is time to ...
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Starting Your Wellbeing Strategy

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Sharon De Mascia

Psychological issues are now the key factors affecting people's health in the modern workforce as incidences of stress, anxiety and depression increase. This means that it is more crucial than ever for organisations to be addressing wellbeing strategically and minimising both the costs to the business and the damage to employees/teams. Organisations often struggle with wellbeing and tend to adopt a 'pick and mix' approach where they offer a range of offers, such as reduced cost gym memberships, ...
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5 Ways Managers can Help Staff Manage Mental Health (During the Coronavirus Pandemic)

Posted on April 3, 2020April 3, 2020 by Sharon De Mascia

The latest Wellbeing report from CIPD highlights the fact that “employers need to increase mental health support during these difficult times”. It emphasises that employers should be investing resources now in preventing mental ill health. This message is particularly poignant in the light of Coronavirus, as the report also comments that the majority of managers were already falling to successfully support staff with mental health issues even before the crisis began. Staff will be reacting d...
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Student Mental Health

Posted on July 4, 2019July 5, 2019 by Sharon De Mascia

The 'Institute of Public Policy' found levels of mental illness, mental distress and low wellbeing to be higher amongst students than they are in the general population. In addition, the number of students who "have disclosed a mental health condition to their university has increased dramatically in the past 10 years". Poor mental health/low wellbeing can have an impact on student's academic performance and in some cases, can lead to students not continuing with their studies and in...
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Humble Leaders May Be Best!

Posted on July 3, 2018July 3, 2018 by Sharon De Mascia

Leaders are often selected because they appear confident, are able to self- promote and who blow their own trumpet. But do these types of people make the best leaders or are the humble unsung heroes the ones to look for? The idea of 'Servant Leadership' has caused us to question the nature of a good leader and the sorts of traits that we should be looking for in Leaders that will enable them to engage and support their staff. Emerging research suggests that humble leaders "inspire collabo...
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