On many occasions, when the words innovate or innovation are mentioned, there is a feeling of fear, fear or rejection, sensing that it does not suit us because of a supposed inability to do it or because it is “their thing” (research centres, developed companies, universities, etc.), without taking into account that we are probably innovating very often in our daily lives and most of the time without realising it. Therefore, if we reflect for a moment, we will see that we all innovate in one way or another to adapt to life circumstances.

We must remember that to innovate is “to introduce something new (in something)”, and as possible synonyms we have: to alter, change, modernize and modify. So: is there any organization in society or any person who has not carried out (voluntarily or not) any of these actions?

The methodology for culminating innovations is as varied and extensive as there are innovators, but here we will propose one based on an internal (inside view) and external (outside view) of the person who has to innovate, from the result of which a change, alteration or modification can emerge that ends up becoming what we all do and should continue to do: an innovation.

Human resources of a company constitute one of its main competitive advantages. Valuing the importance of this resource and working intensively in order to retain this talent will constitute one of the main challenges of the future for companies. The study of one of the most important sectors in the Spanish economy, the commercial retail sector, allows an analysis of the importance of the management of human capital through motivation. As part of this point, the concept of personal, family and work balance gains importance as a tool for human management and for the retention of talent. In order to facilitate the application of measures for balancing life, the following conditions are required: gender equality, parity and joint responsibility. The benefits for both workers and companies are many. Among them, the minimal or zero cost which the implementation of these kinds of measures involve. New technologies in particular assist a real balance. Providing knowledge about and spreading the concept of personal, family and work balance, by analysing its applicability in one of the most important sectors in the Spanish economy, is the objective of this study.

This article is a summary of the work which obtained the prize for the best Bachelor’s Thesis (TFG) in Economics and Business Studies concerning gender during the 2018/19 course. The complete work is held in the UOC’s institutional repository (O2), the portal which collects, disseminates and preserves the UOC members’ free-access digital publications that were produced in the development of their research, teaching and management activities. You can consult the complete work at: http://hdl.handle.net/10609/110566.