Benefits are no longer an extra—they're the filter itself
En un mercado laboral que exige cada vez más reciprocidad entre empresa y persona, los beneficios para empleados han dejado de ser un gesto de generosidad para convertirse en una condición de entrada. Antonella Lavanca, desde Coverflex, articula lo que los datos ya confirman: siete de cada diez trabajadores consideran los beneficios un elemento central de su vínculo laboral, y las organizaciones que no lo comprendan no solo dejarán de atraer talento, sino que perderán el que ya tienen. La digitalización y la comunicación interna emergen como los puentes entre la intención y el impacto real.
- Los beneficios han pasado de ser un complemento salarial a ser el factor decisivo en la elección de empleo, redefiniendo las reglas del juego para los departamentos de RRHH.
- Las empresas enfrentan una doble amenaza: no atraen candidatos que esperan paquetes flexibles y modernos, y pierden empleados actuales ante competidores que sí los ofrecen.
- Un patrón silencioso agrava el problema: trabajadores que abandonan la empresa sin haber sabido nunca qué beneficios tenían disponibles, revelando una crisis de comunicación interna tanto como de oferta.
- La centralización digital —todos los beneficios en una sola plataforma accesible y personalizable— se perfila como la solución más eficaz frente a la histórica fragmentación del sector.
- La tecnología por sí sola no basta: los equipos remotos y dispersos requieren acompañamiento activo para que los beneficios pasen del papel a la práctica cotidiana.
Antonella Lavanca, responsable de customer success en Coverflex, llevó al podcast Coffee Break un mensaje directo para los profesionales de recursos humanos: la forma en que las empresas conciben los beneficios para empleados ha cambiado de manera irreversible. Apoyándose en una investigación reciente sobre compensación e innovación, describió un mercado laboral donde los beneficios ya no son un añadido, sino un filtro esencial para atraer y retener personas.
Los datos son contundentes: siete de cada diez empleados consideran los beneficios un elemento nuclear de su relación con el empleador. Lavanca identificó dos riesgos concretos para quienes ignoran este cambio: la incapacidad de captar nuevo talento, porque los beneficios han dejado de ser un extra para convertirse en el factor determinante, y la pérdida de quienes ya forman parte de la organización, dispuestos a marcharse con quien ofrezca un paquete más flexible y completo.
Pero el problema va más allá de la oferta. Lavanca señaló un patrón recurrente: empleados que se iban confesando que ni siquiera sabían lo que su empresa les ofrecía. La solución pasa por la centralización. Cuando los beneficios están dispersos entre sistemas, proveedores y formularios en papel, es como si no existieran. La gente no usa lo que no puede ver ni acceder con facilidad.
Aquí entra la tecnología, y su peso no es menor. El sector de beneficios ha sido históricamente uno de los más lentos en modernizarse. La digitalización transforma la experiencia tanto para el empleado como para el equipo de RRHH: cuando todo convive en una sola aplicación, accesible en cualquier momento y adaptable a cada persona, lo que antes era una carga administrativa se convierte en una ventaja tangible y cotidiana.
Lavanca subrayó también el papel de la comunicación interna, especialmente en entornos con equipos remotos o dispersos geográficamente. La tecnología no es suficiente por sí sola: las empresas deben guiar activamente a sus empleados para que comprendan y aprovechen lo disponible. Sin esa atención humana e intencional, incluso el mejor paquete de beneficios queda sin usar. Cerrar esa brecha sigue siendo el desafío pendiente para muchas organizaciones.
Antonella Lavanca, who leads customer success at Coverflex, arrived at the latest episode of Coffee Break with a simple but urgent message for HR professionals: the way companies think about employee benefits has fundamentally changed. The conversation drew from fresh research on compensation and innovation that Coverflex had just released, and it painted a picture of a labor market where benefits are no longer nice-to-haves but essential filters that determine whether a company can attract and keep people.
The numbers tell part of the story. Seven out of every ten employees now consider benefits a core element of their relationship with an employer. But Lavanca didn't stop at the statistic. She named the two concrete risks that come from ignoring this shift. First, companies fail to draw new talent in the first place, because benefits have stopped being an extra layer on top of salary and have become the deciding factor itself. Second, and perhaps more costly, organizations lose the people they already have. Workers increasingly want something beyond a paycheck, and they're willing to leave for a competitor who offers a more flexible, more complete benefits package.
The problem runs deeper than just offering benefits. Lavanca pointed to a pattern she'd observed: employees who quit would often say something like, "I didn't even know you were offering all of that." The solution, she argued, is centralization. When benefits sit scattered across different systems, different vendors, different paper forms, they might as well not exist. People don't use what they can't see or access.
This is where technology enters the picture, and it's not a small matter. The benefits sector has historically been one of the slowest to modernize—paper checks have been the symbol of that stagnation for years. But digitalization changes the entire experience, both for employees and for HR teams. When all benefits live in a single app, accessible at any moment and customizable to individual needs, something that once felt like administrative overhead becomes a tangible, daily advantage. The friction disappears.
Lavanca also emphasized the role of internal communication, especially in a world where more teams are remote or geographically scattered. Technology alone isn't enough. Companies need to actively guide their workforce through the process of understanding and using what's available. Without that support, without that intentional communication, even the best benefits package sits unused. The infrastructure has to be matched by human attention—someone needs to make sure people actually know what they have access to and how to use it. That's the gap many organizations are still struggling to close.
Notable Quotes
Benefits are no longer an extra—they're a filter that determines whether a company can attract new talent— Antonella Lavanca, Head of Customer Success, Coverflex
Employees who leave often say they didn't even know what the company was offering. Centralization is the key.— Antonella Lavanca, Head of Customer Success, Coverflex
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
So when you say benefits have become a filter rather than a perk, what does that actually mean in practice?
It means a candidate now looks at a job offer and thinks, "What's the benefits package?" before they think about the salary. If it's weak or unclear, they don't apply. If they're already employed and see a competitor offering something better, they leave. Benefits used to be something you discovered after you joined. Now they're part of the decision to join at all.
But companies have offered benefits for decades. What's changed?
The expectations have changed, and the visibility has changed. People used to accept whatever their employer gave them. Now they compare, they research, they know what's possible. And most companies are still communicating benefits poorly—they're buried in documents, scattered across systems. Employees don't even know what they have.
Is this a problem that affects all companies equally, or are some industries ahead of others?
The benefits sector itself has been slow to modernize. You still see paper checks in some places. But the companies that have digitalized—that put everything in one accessible app—they're seeing real retention gains. It's not just about having good benefits anymore. It's about making them visible and usable.
What happens to a remote team if the benefits communication isn't intentional?
They fall through the cracks. If you're not in an office, you don't overhear conversations about what's available. You don't bump into someone who knows the system. You need deliberate, ongoing communication and support to make sure people actually understand and use what the company is offering.
So the real cost of poor benefits strategy isn't just losing a candidate—it's losing someone you've already trained and invested in?
Exactly. And it's preventable. The people who leave often say they didn't even know what was being offered. That's not a benefits problem. That's a communication and access problem.