Building an HR Business Case for Better Salary Data

HR teams are often expected to make multi-million-pound pay decisions without the right data or tools to back them up. And when budgets are tight, salary benchmarking is usually one of the first things pushed down the list.

Yet the cost of replacing just one employee can be 1.5 to 2 times their salary. If you’re making those decisions blind, that’s not just a risk, it’s a cost.

This article will walk you through how to build a clear, credible business case for better salary data, one that gets buy-in from finance and leadership alike.

If you’re not clear on what salary benchmarking actually involves, this explainer breaks it down.
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The Business Impact of Getting Pay Data Right

One of the biggest challenges HR teams face is that salary benchmarking is rarely seen as urgent until something goes wrong. Pay isn’t aligned to the market. Roles go unfilled for months. Offer declines creep up. Attrition spikes. And suddenly, everyone’s asking, “Why didn’t we see this coming?”

That’s the real risk of poor data: you’re always reacting. Good data lets you get ahead.

Take Marston’s, the pub and restaurant group, as an example. Before implementing real-time pay data tools, their reward team relied on annual salary surveys and manual data collection methods. This approach often resulted in outdated insights, making it challenging to maintain competitive pay rates in a rapidly changing market.

In 2020, Marston’s adopted HR DataHub’s real-time salary benchmarking platform, gaining immediate visibility into current job supply, demand and pay rates across the UK. This shift enabled them to make well-informed decisions about compensation, ensuring their pay structures remained competitive and aligned with market trends.

Read more about Marston’s here.

This example underscores the value of timely data in supporting strategic reward decisions, enhancing recruitment efforts, and retaining top talent.

After rolling out HR Datahub, they were able to centralise that insight, give the whole HR team instant access to local market rates, and start making proactive pay decisions. 

The result? Less guesswork. More confidence. And stronger business cases that were trusted by senior stakeholders.

That’s the real value of getting pay data right. It underpins strategic reward decisions, supports recruitment and retention, and helps HR speak the same language as the business. 
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What Stops HR Teams from Getting Buy-In?

If you’ve ever tried to get a salary benchmarking tool signed off, you’ve probably heard some variation of:

“Can’t we just ChatGPT the going rate?” (I discuss why this is a bad idea here.)

“There’s no budget for this right now.”

“We already get data from our annual survey.”

These objections are common and understandable. From the outside, it can look like HR is asking for another line in the budget without a clear return. But that’s often because the real business problem hasn’t been clearly framed. Or the benefits haven’t been quantified. Or the link to broader business goals hasn't been made obvious.

I’ve seen this pattern time and again. Most of the time, leadership isn’t saying no because they don’t believe in the idea. They’re saying no because they don’t see the value clearly enough, or they don’t know what happens if they don’t do it.

Another blocker is the perception that existing sources, like traditional salary surveys, are enough. But survey data is only as good as its comparators. If the dataset doesn’t include your sector, your region or your niche roles, then your benchmarks are already out of sync. And if your HR team needs to submit, analyse and interpret the data themselves, you’re adding ramp-up time, resource strain and margin for error.

Finally, there’s the credibility factor. If your business case is vague or based on assumptions, it won’t land. If you’re pitching to senior leaders or your finance department, you need to speak their language: costs, outcomes, risks and return

The good news is: all of this is fixable. The next section lays out the structure for building a business case that addresses these challenges head-on and gets approved.

Here’s why traditional salary surveys often fall short and what to use instead.
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How to Build an HR Business Case for Better Salary Data

If there’s one thing I’ve seen time and again, it’s that a solid HR business case needs clarity. You don’t need 40 slides. You need to define the problem, propose a solution and show the return. That’s what your stakeholders want to see.

Here’s how to do it.
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1. Start with a Clear Executive Summary

Open with a one-page summary. Frame it like a business proposal, not an HR project. The people reviewing it won’t necessarily care about salary benchmarking platforms, but they will care about the cost of unfilled roles, rising attrition or falling offer acceptance rates.

Your summary should answer:

• What’s the problem?
• What’s the proposed solution?
• What’s the benefit to the business?
• What’s the cost?

Stick to plain English. Avoid HR jargon. And focus on what the business gains, not just what HR needs.
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2. Define the Problem with Real Data

This is where many HR business cases fall short. A vague problem like “we need better data” won’t cut it. Instead, define what’s broken.

That might be:

• Losing candidates because pay isn’t competitive
• Inconsistent local benchmarking across regions
• High attrition in roles where pay hasn’t been reviewed in years
• Time and resource wasted manually scraping job ads
• Lack of confidence in current pay decisions

Use whatever data you have to back this up: exit interviews, offer decline reasons, salary variation across sites, agency spend. If you're lacking metrics, start gathering them now – baseline data is essential for tracking ROI later.

Discover where your pay practices are costing you and how much you could save. 

—> Take our 5-minute survey

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3. Present a Targeted, Practical Solution

Next, introduce your proposed solution. Be specific: the platform, the features you’ll use and why this tool solves the problem better than what you’re doing today.

For example:

We propose to implement HR Datahub to access real-time market pay data by region, job type and sector. This will enable us to benchmark all operational and salaried roles accurately within minutes, rather than relying on outdated annual surveys or inconsistent manual scraping.

Keep the focus on the outcome:

• Faster decision making
• Improved market alignment
• Better support for pay proposals
• Time saved for HRBPs
• Confidence in pay equity

Stakeholders want to know that you’ve thought through implementation. Keep it simple: no complex integrations, low training requirement, quick ramp-up.
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4. Show the ROI (and Do the Maths)

This is where many HR cases become vague. Don’t just say “this will improve retention”, show how.

Use realistic estimates, for example:

• Turnover reduction: If aligning pay reduces attrition by 5%, and the average replacement cost is £10K per role, what’s the total saving?

• Time saved: If HRBPs spend 6 hours per month benchmarking manually, and the platform reduces this to 30 minutes, what does that free up?

• Faster hiring: If better pay insight reduces time to hire by 2 weeks, what does that save in lost productivity or agency spend?

You don’t need perfect precision, just sensible, business-focused assumptions. And make sure the total cost of the platform is clearly stated alongside the potential return.

Here’s a fictional example:

One business increased warehouse operative pay from £12.21 to £12.40 to align with market rates. The annual cost was £80K, but the return (based on reduced turnover, fewer agency fees, and higher productivity) was £95K. That’s a 20% ROI. And the case was signed off.

You can see how this played out in practice in this case study from Tysers.

Want to explore how to quantify the impact of pay decisions across recruitment, retention and equity? Our on-demand session walks through practical ROI models and common blockers to buy-in.

(Free to access — no fluff, just data.)
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5. Connect It to Wider Business Goals

This is where the business case often goes from “nice idea” to “must-have.” Tie your case to the metrics your leadership team already cares about. That might include:

• Turnover and retention
• Cost per hire
• Time to productivity
• Employee engagement
• DEI and pay equity goals

If you can show how better salary data helps the business achieve its top-level objectives, you won’t need to fight for attention. Your case becomes a strategic enabler, not a cost request.

And don’t forget internal equity. Salary benchmarking tools like HR Datahub help you identify gaps early, so you’re not blindsided by a pay equity issue that could have been avoided.

If retention is a key concern, these retention strategies may help alongside stronger pay data.
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6. Tackle the Objections Before They Come Up

Expect questions like:

• Can’t we use existing surveys?
• How is this different from scraping job ads?
• What if we don’t use it enough?

Address them head-on:

• Traditional surveys are often outdated and lack coverage in key roles.
• Manual scraping is time-consuming and inconsistent, and it’s already being done by multiple people, duplicating effort.
• This tool pays for itself in time saved and better decisions, even if used on just a few high-impact roles.

If needed, point to what peers in your industry are doing. Share adoption examples. Sometimes, the safest move for leadership is to follow what similar companies are already doing.
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7. Finish with a Simple, Actionable Plan

Close your case with a short implementation summary:

• Who will use it
• What the onboarding process looks like
• What success will look like
• How ROI will be tracked

This shows you’ve thought it through and lowers perceived risk.

And keep your tone confident. This isn’t a speculative ask. You’re showing that it’s a smart investment that solves a real business problem.

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Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Your Business Case

Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of HR business cases fall flat, not because the idea was wrong, but because the execution didn’t land. If you’re putting together a case for salary data investment, avoid these common pitfalls.
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1. No Baseline = No ROI

If you can’t show where you are now, you can’t prove improvement later. Whether it’s turnover rates, offer acceptance or time spent benchmarking, start tracking. Even directional data is better than nothing. You’ll need it to measure success and defend your case later on.
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2. Vague Problem Statements

“HR needs better data” isn’t a business case. Be specific about what’s broken. Ask yourself:

• Is your pay out of step with the market? 
• Are you losing candidates due to misaligned offers? 
• Are teams wasting hours duplicating manual benchmarking work? 

If the problem isn’t clear, the solution won’t matter.
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3. Making It Too HR-Focused

You might be solving a reward problem, but your audience cares about the business impact. Don’t focus on process improvements alone. Focus on outcomes: faster hiring, better retention, more consistent decision making. That’s what gets noticed.
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4. Ignoring Stakeholder Needs

Don’t just write what you want to say, anticipate what your key stakeholders need to hear. The finance department wants to know the cost, yes. But more importantly, they want to understand the return. The COO wants to know if this speeds up hiring or reduces operational risk. Shape the case around their priorities.
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5. No Follow-Through

If you do get approval, track the impact. Too often, HR delivers a project and moves on. But if you want future investment, you need to show results. Keep monitoring, report back and use that momentum to make your next case easier to win.

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If you're building a case and want practical support on proving ROI, Reward School Episode 4 is a free on-demand lesson packed with tips from experienced reward leaders.

(Quick registration required.)
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Make Better Pay Decisions, Backed by Data

If you're ready to stop guessing and start leading on pay, it's time to invest in the data that gets you there. HR Datahub gives you live, credible salary data scraped from over 30 million live job ads, helping you make smarter, faster pay decisions.

Start your free trial today!