HR and Finance want the same thing: to help the business thrive through smarter people decisions. But too often, they’re still working in silos—speaking different languages, using different metrics, and measuring success in entirely different ways.
Add the return-to-office into the mix, and the disconnect gets deeper.
As more companies bring more people back on-site, many Finance leaders assume the need for engagement and productivity tools has passed.
But in-person presence doesn’t guarantee productivity. And it doesn’t replace the systems, workflows, and insights that help HR and Finance support performance at scale.
Many companies still operate across multiple locations and time zones. Even with a return-to-office, today’s workforce rarely works in one place on one schedule, or follows one way of working.
Without the right tools, HR teams can struggle to deliver high levels of engagement, efficiency, and workforce productivity—whether remote, in-office, or anything in between. And without hard data, it’s even more challenging for HR and Finance to measure impact and guide smart investments.
With budgets tightening, Finance teams are facing immense pressure to protect margins and prioritize spend. Every investment, including HR tech, is now evaluated through a strategic financial lens focused on cost management, ROI, and long-term business value. That’s why 73 percent of CFOs require a formal business case before approving tech purchases.
The bottom line: HR and Finance may approach decisions from different angles, but they’re aligned on outcomes.
To secure support for HR tech, HR must frame their strategies in terms Finance already prioritizes: operational efficiency, cost savings, productivity gains, and risk reduction.
This guide will show you how.
We’ll unpack the mindset of CFOs and FP&A leaders, uncover the root of the HR-Finance disconnect, and demonstrate how the right workforce productivity tools can help both teams bridge the gap and drive measurable, aligned outcomes.
You’ll come away with the tactics, metrics, and messaging you need to build the case for investment—clearly, confidently, and collaboratively.
What Finance really values—and how HR can speak to it
Finance leaders aren’t opposed to investing in people. But like every business unit, they need to see clear, measurable proof of positive outcomes before approving spend.
In today’s economic climate, CFOs are under pressure to protect margins, manage costs, and make every dollar count. Technology investments—especially in HR—are evaluated closely to ensure they contribute to the business’s financial health.
Finance teams typically focus on three core priorities:
- Cost management and efficiency. Reducing operating costs across all departments.
- Cash flow and liquidity. Preserving capital and minimizing non-essential spending.
- Risk mitigation. Addressing regulatory, compliance, and market risks.
Any initiative that doesn’t clearly demonstrate impact on one or more of these areas can be a tough sell. In fact, according to Deloitte, 69 percent of CFOs say they reject proposals that don’t clearly demonstrate cost savings.
FP&A professionals add another level of precision. Their role is to model and forecast performance and evaluate investments through a lens of operational efficiency, profitability, and risk exposure. They’re not just asking, “Does this make sense?” They’re asking, “Can we quantify the value?”
This creates a challenge for HR, but also a huge opportunity.
Initiatives like improving engagement, building culture, or launching development programs hold real business value. But to resonate with Finance, that value must be framed in operational terms.
This doesn’t mean changing what HR does. It means articulating how people strategies contribute to shared business goals—like lowering attrition, boosting productivity, and reducing compliance risk.When HR leaders connect their programs to metrics that matter to Finance, they strengthen credibility and build a shared foundation for strategic investment.
Bridging the gap: Why HR and Finance often speak past each other
HR and Finance are aligned when it comes to the big picture: building a productive, stable, and high-performing workforce. But the metrics they rely on (and the language they use) can differ in ways that create disconnects.
HR often tracks indicators tied to culture and experience, e.g., engagement, DE&I progress, and manager effectiveness. Finance looks at operations metrics like:
- Attrition rates
- Cost per hire
- Productivity per person
- Risk exposure and compliance gaps
These aren’t competing priorities. They’re complementary. But without the right systems in place, it can be tough to connect them.
HR teams may have the insights, but pulling them together across fragmented tools and manual workflows can be time-consuming and imprecise. And that makes it harder to frame people outcomes in terms that resonate with Finance.
Take engagement, for example:
HR might say: “Our engagement scores improved by 15 percent this year.”
Finance might reply: “Did that reduce turnover? Improve performance? What’s the business impact?”
These are fair and necessary questions, and answering them requires shared access to data and a common framework for value.
But only 36 percent of HR leaders say they can prove HR ROI for their initiatives, while 96 percent of CFOs say ROI is a must-have for tech-spend approvals.
The challenge isn’t misalignment. It’s translation.
The good news? With connected systems and meaningful analytics—like those provided by modern HR tech platforms—HR and Finance can work from the same source of truth. That opens the door to better collaboration, stronger business cases, and investments that drive measurable outcomes. Together.
How HR tech bridges the business case gap
HR tech has come a long way. It’s no longer about just managing workflows—it’s about giving HR and Finance the tools they need to align outcomes and make smarter people decisions that drive real and measurable business impact.
Many HR teams already know the value their programs deliver. But when it’s time to show that value in financial terms, scattered systems and disconnected data often get in the way.
Modern HR platforms help close this gap. By consolidating people data, surfacing trends, and connecting HR ROI metrics to business performance, they help HR and Finance tell a more cohesive story they can confidently act on.
A unified view of your people data
Bringing together fragmented data from across the employee lifecycle—from onboarding and performance to engagement and turnover—creates a single source of truth. This is essential for spotting trends, identifying risks, and sharing actionable insights across teams.
A simpler way to work
By automating repeatable tasks like performance reviews, onboarding, and time-off approvals, HR tech reduces administrative overhead. That means more time for strategic analysis and more bandwidth for the work that drives outcomes.
Insights that speak Finance’s language
When you tie engagement data, development plans, and retention insights to financial metrics (like revenue per employee or workforce cost risk), HR’s story becomes easier to quantify.
Empowered people and managers
User-friendly self-service tools give managers and employees greater ownership of daily processes—from performance tracking to vacation planning—reducing delays and boosting accountability. That operational efficiency matters to every function.
Confidence in every audit trail
With centralized compliance tracking and documentation, audit-readiness becomes a baseline, not a scramble chasing emails or spreadsheets. That reduces risk, improves transparency, and aligns with Finance’s priority to strengthen controls.
Even for experienced HR teams, telling a clear, data-backed business case can be tough without the right tech. But with a unified HR platform, pulling the right numbers—and connecting them to strategic goals—is simpler, faster, and more effective.
And when HR and Finance can see how their people programs drive efficiency, reduce risk, and contribute to growth and resilience, it’s not just an investment in technology. It’s a move toward better business leadership.
How to frame the business case for HR tech
Building support for HR tech starts with telling the right story—one grounded in data, aligned to business goals, and relevant to HR and Finance.
This doesn’t mean shifting away from people-first strategies. It means translating those strategies into measurable outcomes that resonate across the organization.
Connect people programs to business performance
Start by aligning HR initiatives with Finance priorities. When people programs are clearly tied to operational gains (like reduced attrition and time-to-productivity), they become easier to quantify and easier to support. It’s about speaking the same language, not changing the intent.
Here’s how common HR programs connect to financial impact, and how a unified HCM helps make that link visible:
When HR and Finance work from the same data, the business case becomes clear: People programs aren’t just good for culture. They’re good for business.
Make your case with metrics
When it comes to investment decisions, Finance teams don’t rely on instinct—they want to see the data.
And expectations are high: 93 percent of CFOs expect technology investments to deliver immediate cost savings, revenue growth, or risk mitigation.
This puts pressure on every team—including HR—to speak in clear, quantifiable terms that show real business value from day one.
The research says it all: Modern HR tech makes it easier to surface metrics that resonate:
- 125 percent improvement in HR team efficiency
- 80 percent increase in team self-service use
- 10+ hours saved per new hire, helping people contribute faster
These numbers do more than just support the business case—they make its full value visible, measurable, and impossible to overlook.
When HR can quantify how much their programs reduce costs, boost output, or mitigate risk, they move from asking for support to demonstrating strategic impact.
Speak in business terms
Stronger alignment between HR and Finance starts with centering the outcomes that matter most to both sides of the table:
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Payback periods
- Operational efficiency
- Risk reduction
Framing makes the difference. Instead of “We’re improving team experience,” try:
- “We’re reducing turnover costs by 15 percent”
- “We’re lowering audit risk through automation”
These aren’t just different words. They’re different ways of showing value.
When HR leaders position their strategies using business language and hard metrics, they can shift the conversation. Not from values to value but from strategy to commitment.
How to build the business case together
Strong investments start with strong alignment. When HR and Finance collaborate on the business case for HR tech, they combine strategic insights with financial rigor, ensuring every proposal is grounded in people impact and measurable outcomes.
Here’s what that process can look like when both teams are involved from the start.
Put it in writing
A detailed, data-driven proposal can help turn ideas into action. It shows that the investment is thoughtful, strategic, and ready for review.
An HCM can help you gather the essentials:
- Itemized investment costs
- Projected operational savings
- Time and efficiency gains
- Timeline to positive ROI
- Risk reduction impact
Clear documentation builds credibility for both teams and accelerates decision-making.
Quantify expected outcomes
When HR and Finance use shared metrics, like internal mobility, it’s easier to align on impact. Translating people programs into financial terms helps HR and Finance understand their true business value. It turns strategic intent into measurable impact and builds a clear path to investment.
When you frame outcomes as shared metrics, it’s easier to align on value:
- “Reducing voluntary attrition by 10 percent could save $450K in annual hiring and onboarding costs.”
- “Accelerating ramp-up by two weeks could add $75K in revenue per sales hire by achieving quotas sooner.”
Specific projections like these strengthen the case and make the impact easier to evaluate together.
Streamline and simplify
Modern HR platforms often consolidate multiple tools into a single, connected system, delivering operational and financial value for HR and Finance:
- Fewer vendor contracts to manage
- Lower licensing and renewal costs
- Simpler IT support and management
- Stronger oversight and reduced compliance gaps
It’s not just about reducing spend and saving money. It’s about improving visibility, reducing complexity, and helping both teams work smarter and scale faster.
Back it up with real-world proof
Social proof matters. Whether it’s a benchmark, case study, or anonymized example, showing what’s working elsewhere builds confidence and makes it easier to assess value and align on expectations:
- ROI averages from similar-sized companies
- Industry trends showing faster ROI windows
- Success stories tied to vendor consolidation, cost savings, or risk reduction
External validation adds weight and makes the proposal feel more like a smart move than a leap of faith. It shows that others are achieving measurable outcomes and helps both teams evaluate what’s possible.
With the right data, clarity, and a shared focus on business value, HR and Finance can move from proposal to progress together—not by speaking a different language, but by showing how their strategy already supports the business’s goals.
Tackle objections before they arise
Even with a well-prepared business case, questions are inevitable. That’s a good thing. It means the conversation is active, informed, and moving forward.
When HR and Finance work together to anticipate common concerns, they build momentum and trust on both sides of the aisle.
Here are a few examples of common questions and how to address them collaboratively using data from your HR platform:
“We already have HR systems.”
That’s true. But our current setup doesn’t give us a connected, end-to-end view of our people data. Without that visibility, it’s harder to spot inefficiencies or discover cost-saving opportunities. A unified platform can simplify our tech stack and provide us with the insights both teams need.
“How quickly will we see ROI?”
Industry benchmarks show most organizations begin to see results, like cost savings and productivity gains, within six to nine months. That includes faster onboarding, increased self-service, and less time spent on manual processes.
Recommended For Further Reading
“Will people actually use it?”
Adoption rates in similar companies are over 80 percent. User-friendly design and role-specific training equip teams to use the platform effectively, maximizing its impact across the organization.
By addressing these objections early—and supporting answers with real data from your HR platform—HR and Finance can move forward as strategic partners. It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about building confidence through preparation and transparency.
Speaking the same language to drive shared value
Today’s business leaders know that culture and performance go hand in hand. HR and Finance may approach workforce decisions from different angles. But both are focused on driving measurable impact.
Closing the gap between people strategies and business priorities doesn’t mean changing direction. It means making outcomes visible, tying efforts to clear results, and aligning around a common set of metrics.
When HR and Finance work from the same data, speak the same language, and build the case together, they unlock more than buy-in. They unlock shared influence, stronger alignment, and greater potential to shape the business moving forward.
People strategy has always been powerful. Now, the numbers make that power impossible to ignore.
