Benefits adoption as the North Star

From the very beginning, Betterfly knew that employee adoption would make or break the benefits program. Offering benefits is one thing—ensuring they are understood, used, and appreciated is another. Offering perks on paper isn’t enough—what counts is daily adoption, where employees feel the value in their lives. That principle shaped the entire product strategy, from intuitive cards to gamified experiences.

The impact was immediate: cards quickly became the most activated feature, creating daily touch points between employees and the platform. More than 70% of users activate their benefits after onboarding and over 80% use their cards regularly, turning flexible compensation into something real and meaningful.

“Our goal was clear: if employees don’t use the benefits, the program doesn’t exist. Every design decision focused on making usage effortless.” says Antonio SaS, Country Manager in Spain.

The Opportunity: Benefits that matter

The Spanish benefits landscape is shaped by retribución flexible (flexible compensation), a framework regulated under Spanish tax law that allows employees to allocate up to 30% of their gross salary to select products or services with tax advantages. This can translate into up to a 15% increase in disposable salary each month, while allowing companies to optimize costs without raising base salaries.

More than 70% of companies in Spain now include flexible benefits in their compensation strategies. The Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria, AEAT) sets clear exemptions: meal vouchers are tax-free up to €11 per working day, transport cards up to €1,500 per year, and childcare services and professional training are fully exempt without an annual cap, provided they meet regulatory conditions. Employers must also ensure proper documentation and payroll reporting so these benefits qualify for exemption and withstand AEAT audits.

What began as paper vouchers today has shifted to digital, self-managed cards and apps for meals, transport, childcare, and training—boosting employee engagement. This evolution turns flexible compensation into a daily, tangible experience and gives employees more autonomy in how they access and manage their benefits.

Betterfly recognized this shift as an opportunity: to reimagine traditional benefits as a a daily, digital experience that employees can control—seamless, compliant, and something employees feel in their everyday lives.

“We wanted employees to not just see benefits, but feel them every day, from their commute to lunch.” — [Antonio Sas, Country Manager in Spain]

The Solution: Embedding Swan’s cards

Betterfly embedded banking infrastructure into the platform, turning benefits into an intuitive, high-engagement experience. Flexible compensation not only boosts employee engagement but also reduces HR admin, ensuring the benefits budget control and maximizing the tax efficiency companies and workers alike expect.

A fintech inside Betterfly

Building flexible benefits into a daily habit required more than a pretty interface—it meant creating a real fintech layer inside Betterfly. This is where Swan came in.

“The fintech engine behind Betterfly makes benefits effortless for employees, while giving HR teams full visibility.” — [Antonio Sas, Country Manager in Spain]

The integration process was smoother than expected, thanks to Swan’s clear documentation and developer-first approach. For Betterfly’s product team, led by Head of Product Fabian Elgueta, it wasn’t just about connecting APIs; it was about discovering new possibilities. “The integration process with Swan was really smooth. Thanks to their clear documentation, I could quickly understand what was possible and how far we could push the technology we wanted to build within Betterfly.”

The clarity of Swan’s docs didn’t just save time—it helped the teams align fast, write better user stories, and stay focused on the end-user experience.

“What I found truly remarkable about this integration was its focus on the user experience. That’s key, because the solutions were designed with the end user in mind, going beyond a simple product integration.” — [Fabian Elgueta, Head of Product]

That user-centric foundation shaped the entire fintech layer that powers Betterfly’s benefits platform today:

• Physical & digital cards for meals, transport, health, and childcare.
• Autonomy & gamification: Employees choose how to use benefits, making engagement habitual.
• Real-time controls for HR: Benefits budget tracking, spending limits and payment control, and insights at a glance.

Compliance and security built-in

Managing flexible benefits can be complex, with tax rules, caps, and documentation requirements that must align with AEAT standards. For HR teams, benefits have often meant red tape: tax rules to follow, spending caps to track, paperwork to archive. Keeping everything compliant with AEAT standards could feel like a full-time job.

Digital, embedded cards change that. Every transaction is automatically approved or denied following HR policy, payments are logged, categorized, and ready for audit, making reporting simple and reliable. HR teams gain full visibility into budgets, usage, and compliance, reducing errors and freeing them from manual tracking and benefits policy oversight.

For employees, it just works: they tap their card for lunch or their commute, without ever thinking about compliance. The real advantage is for HR: compliance is built in, reporting is effortless, and risk is minimized, and time is freed up to focus on people instead of paperwork.

“The combination of high-quality UX, regulatory compliance, and a strategic partnership with Swan allows us to deliver an innovative, flexible solution centered on wellbeing—creating a benefit program that works for both employees and companies.” —[Fabian Elgueta, Head of Product]

The Impact: real stories from employees and HR

Employees didn’t just receive a new benefit—they felt it from day one. Cards became part of their daily routine: metro rides, meals, even wellness activities. That immediacy created excitement and trust.

• Daily engagement: Cards central to meals, commuting, and wellness.
• Financial empowerment: Tax-advantaged benefits increased disposable salary by up to +15% without increasing employer costs.
• Personalization & gamification: Employees adjusted benefits to their lifestyle, with gamification lifting weekly active users +20%.

“Gamification has helped us increase our weekly active users. People keep coming back, competing in a healthy way, and being rewarded with benefits.” — [Fabian Elgueta, Head of Product]

For HR Teams

Behind the scenes, HR leaders went from administrators to strategic partners. Centralization and automation freed up time, while real-time visibility gave them new influence in the boardroom.

• Reduced admin load: Payroll processing, reporting, and budget limits automated.
• Real-time insights: Monitoring adoption, spend, and cost savings at a glance.
• Strategic HR impact: Higher adoption = higher engagement = stronger retention.

“The impact on our relationship with HR has also been key. Before, benefits were scattered across different platforms. Now, with Betterfly, employees can access them in a simple, integrated way—while HR teams face less administrative burden and gain more time to focus on their benefits strategy.” — [Antonio Sas, Country Manager in Spain]

The takeaway: Betterfly and the benefits that stick

Betterfly’s story shows that the real measure of success isn’t how many benefits you offer—it’s how many people actually use them. By making benefits effortless, digital, and part of everyday life, Betterfly turned adoption into its North Star.

• 100% flexible: One app for meals, transport, healthcare, and childcare.
• Universal cards: Physical and digital, activated in minutes.
• Gamified wellbeing: Rewards and nudges drive healthier habits.
• Savings & optimization: Employees enjoy immediate tax benefits and their salary stretches further.

Employees feel the value daily. HR teams save time and gain influence. And companies see engagement and retention rise—without raising costs.

• Employees: Autonomy, gamification, and salary optimization.
• HR teams: Efficiency, insights, and strategic weight.
• Companies: Maximum engagement with no extra cost.

When adoption leads the way, benefits stop being a perk on paper and become what they were meant to be: a true driver of wellbeing at work.

“Flexible, digital benefits aren’t just perks—they’re a daily part of employees’ lives.” — [Antonio Sas, Country Manager in Spain]

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