We’ve all been there.
You know your organisation desperately needs to invest in employee engagement, but your leadership team isn’t onboard.
Maybe they don’t see the value, or they’re hesitant to give the go-ahead for HR software budget approval.
It’s frustrating, but it’s not hopeless.
The key to getting buy-in for HR software for your employee engagement surveys is to present a strong business case that speaks your leaders’ language – one that focuses on measurable impact, cost-effectiveness, and long-term benefits.
Here’s what we cover in this blog:
Your leadership team set the tone for your organisational culture and strategic direction, by understanding their mindset, you can tailor your proposals to resonate with their values and objectives.
Without this, your pitches may miss the mark or fail to address key concerns, leading to resistance or rejection.
Some things you need to consider…
Leadership are typically focused on achieving strategic objectives and driving business growth.
Proposals need to align with these objectives to gain their support.
For example, if a key focus is that the organisation aims to improve customer retention or satisfaction, you can highlight how engaged employees contribute to better customer experiences.
Many leaders currently are cautious about investing budget in new things.
Understanding their tolerance to risk helps us frame your proposals in a way that minimises those risks and emphasises the potential returns.
The best way to do this is to demonstrate how the initiative you’re proposing will yield tangible benefits – breakdown those elements of employee engagement into areas that will really speak to your leaders and then back those up with evidence.
For example, if you are looking to buy a product or piece of software – look for case-studies or quotes you can use to demonstrate that the project works in similar organisations and has the desired impact.
Your leadership team will be held accountable on the metrics and KPIs that are set out for them in financial or strategic plans.
You should be aligning your proposals with measurable outcomes that resonate with leadership.
That might involve linking employee engagement initiatives to metrics such as productivity, turnover, customer retention or increased profitability.
Whilst there are lots of statistics out there to support the link between employee engagement initiatives – such as employee survey software – and improving the KPIs your leadership will care about – the best thing you can do is find evidence as specific to your sector or organisation as possible.
When on this journey it’s important to recognise that getting leadership buy-in for employee engagement initiatives hinges on understanding leadership mindset and priorities.
Challenges will vary depending on your organisation’s culture, leadership style, industry, and specific circumstances, but some common ones include:
Budget constraints or competing priorities within organisations make it difficult for leadership to commit resources to engagement initiatives if they can’t see an immediate or tangible return.
Some leaders may prefer sticking with existing practices or strategies, even if there is evidence to suggest that improvements are needed.
Sometimes these can hinder open communication and collaboration between HR departments and senior leadership, making it challenging for HR managers to advocate for their ideas or gain buy-in.
Leadership may not fully understand the importance of potential benefits of the proposed engagement initiatives, such as engagement programmes or new software (e.g. survey software).
Start by determining exactly how much the employee engagement software will cost.
Break it down clearly:
Be transparent and realistic.
Decision-makers want to see that you’ve done your homework.
Stribe pricing is completely transparent, and our survey software takes less than 10 minutes to set-up.
Leaders want to know how their money will be used.
Give them a simple, no-nonsense breakdown, outlining the platform’s core features and benefits.
For Stribe, that breakdown would look something like this:
✅ Unlimited pulse surveys
✅ Employee recognition platform
✅ Anonymous messenger
✅ Comprehensive reporting dashboards
✅ Employee intranet with built-in analytics
✅ Seamless integrations and single sign-on (SSO)
✅ Customisable survey templates
✅ iOS and Android app
✅ AI survey writing tool
✅ Dedicated customer support
Link the software directly to your organisation’s pain points.
Common business problems engagement surveys can help address include:
At this stage, it would also be great to share an interactive demo or video with your leaders – so they can visually see the software in action.
This is where many HR software business cases succeed or fail.
To get leadership buy-in for HR tools, they need to see a return on investment.
We wrote an in-depth article how to calculate employee engagement software ROI.
Be sure to include data and research to back-up your business case.
For example, a happier, healthier workforce means:
Finally, remind leaders that engagement surveys are about long-term culture change, not just quick wins.
Building a listening culture takes time, but it pays off in so many ways:
To drive the point home, here are some powerful, data-backed reasons why engagement surveys are essential:
When employees care about their work, they go the extra mile.
Research shows that highly engaged teams are 21% more productive than disengaged ones.
That has s huge impact on your bottom line.
(Source: Gallup’s Employee Engagement Report)
Every time an employee leaves, it costs you about £30,000 to replace them (factoring in lost productivity, hiring, and training costs).
Engagement surveys can uncover why people are leaving and help you keep your best people.
(Source: Oxford Economics)
Hundreds of millions of pounds are lost each year due to workplace absences.
But organisations with high engagement levels experience a 41% reduction in absenteeism.
(Source: AIHR)
Investing in engagement and wellbeing isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s a smart business move.
Every £1 spent on employee wellbeing delivers a £4.20 return on investment through reduced absenteeism, higher morale, and better performance.
(Source: Deloitte Wellbeing Report)
Stribe has shifted mindsets by encouraging accountability at all levels – people now see that they can be part of the solution – making accountability and action a shared effort rather than something that sits with leadership. 
Ultimately, convincing leadership to invest in HR software is about showing your decision-makers how engagement surveys will solve real business problems, deliver measurable ROI, and improve the organisation’s overall culture.
If you’re looking for a simple, easy-to-use survey tool that removes the faff and focuses on getting real feedback, Stribe’s anonymous engagement surveys might be exactly what your team needs.
About the author
Starting out her early career as a journalist, Jade Madeley is an accomplished content writer with 8+ years’ experience across business, personal finance, SaaS, human resources and employee engagement. Working with Stribe, she crafts insightful content that brings complex HR topics to life and drives meaningful action.
