Recognising that burnout is not only a wellbeing issue but a silent threat to organisational knowledge, Maria Isabel Gomez Osorio reimagined mental health support as a strategic HR lever. As a student exploring the intersection between retention and knowledge management, she proposed Mental Health Days as a Knowledge Preservation Strategy — reframing preventive rest not as a benefit, but as a tool to protect intellectual capital
By positioning preventive mental health days within a structured, governance-based framework, she highlights how safeguarding emotional wellbeing can directly reduce turnover, preserve tacit expertise, and strengthen organisational continuity. Her idea demonstrates that protecting people’s mental health is not only an ethical responsibility, but a forward-looking strategy to sustain knowledge-intensive organisations.
Read the Innovative Idea below: