It’s an all-too-common situation – you’re unhappy with your current job so you find a new one that makes you a great offer. You go back to your employer to put in your notice and suddenly they are doing everything they can to retain you and make you happy. You might start second guessing your decision. What do you do? In this blog post we discuss counteroffers and our suggestions on why you should or should not consider them.
HOW A TYPICAL COUNTEROFFER WORKS
Since counteroffers can create confusion and remorse, you should understand what’s being asked of you. Counteroffers are typically made in conjunction with some form of flattery.
- You’re too valuable, we need you.
- You can’t desert the team/your friends and leave them hanging.
- We were just about to give you a promotion/raise, and it was confidential until now.
- What did they offer, why are you leaving, and what do you need to stay?
- Why would you work for that company?
- The President/CEO wants to meet with you before you make your final decision.
Counteroffers usually take the form of:
- More money
- A promotion/more responsibility
- A modified reporting structure
- Promises or future considerations
- Disparaging remarks about the new company or job
- Guilt trips
It’s natural to want to believe these appeals. But think about it – if you were worth “X” yesterday, why are they suddenly willing to pay you “X + Y” today, when you weren’t expecting a raise for some time?
THE REALITY OF COUNTEROFFERS
Employers don’t like to be “fired.” Your boss is likely concerned that he’ll look bad, and/or that his career may suffer. It’s never a good time for someone to quit, and it may prove time-consuming and costly to replace you, especially considering recruitment and relocation expenses. In addition, they know that statistically you are almost certain to leave them in the future.
It’s much cheaper and easier to keep you, even at a slightly higher salary, and it would be better to fire you later – on the company’s time frame. Bosses who truly care about their employees will wish them the best, offer to act as a reference, and communicate their disappointment.
Having once demonstrated your “lack of loyalty” by having considered looking at another job opportunity, you will lose your status as a “team player” and your place in the “inner circle.” You will always be suspected of being at a job interview whenever you are absent from work for any reason.
In addition, numerous studies have shown that the basic reasons for wanting to change jobs in the first place will nearly always resurface. Changes made as the result of a counteroffer rarely last beyond the short-term, no matter how many promises are made.
When making your decision, look at your current job and the new position as if you were unemployed. Which opportunity holds the most real potential? Probably the new one, or you wouldn’t have pursued and accepted it in the first place. If you have made the decision to take another job elsewhere you should maintain a firm and final position.
10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD DECLINE A COUNTEROFFER
- What type of company do you work for if you must threaten to resign before they give you what you are worth?
- Where is the money for the counteroffer coming? Is it your next raise, early? Keep in mind, all companies have strict wage and salary guidelines that must be followed.
- Your company will immediately start looking for a new person at a lower salary.
- You have now made your employer aware that you are unhappy. From this day on, your loyalty will always be in question.
- When promotion time comes around, your employer will remember who was loyal, and who wasn’t.
- When times get tough, your employer will begin the cutback with you.
- The same circumstances that now cause you to consider a change will repeat themselves in the future, even if you accept a counteroffer.
- Statistics show that if you accept a counteroffer, the probability of voluntarily leaving in six months or being let go within one year is extremely high.
- Accepting a counteroffer is an insult to your intelligence and a blow to your personal pride, knowing that you were bought.
- Once the word gets out, the relationship that you now enjoy with your co-workers will never be the same. You will lose the personal satisfaction of peer group acceptance.
These are just things to think about. Changing jobs can be mentally tough, but accepting a counter offer should make think about the decision equally as carefully to see if it is really worth it once the luster of the counter wears off.
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