Why a counter offer is rarely a cause for celebration

A counter offer is an offer from your current employer to rival the one you have received from your future employer, to convince you to stay.  

Counter offers can take many forms: a straight increase in salary, additional company benefits, a sought-after promotion or new job title, additional responsibility, a change in role, more involvement in projects that interest you – or any combination of these.

A counter offer – a spanner in the works

Remind yourself of the reasons you choose to leave in the first place

In many ways counter offers are a nuisance in disguise. You might think great, more options and more choice means more power to me, but the reality is that counter offers are rarely a cause for celebration.

Having prepared yourself both mentally and logistically for a move for so long, a counter offer can easily throw you off-balance and put your plans in disarray; they can be a real spanner in the works. The decision to leave your job is never one taken lightly, so when you’re presented with a counter offer you should keep a clear head, take a step back and consider all your options.

You’ve probably spent months planning your move; researching organisations, meeting with employers, planning your new route, reworking your budget around your new salary and so on. A counter offer at the last minute, when everything is all but confirmed, can be a cruel dilemma.

Refresh your memory

Remind yourself of the reasons you choose to leave in the first place. Are the proposed extras in the counter offer going to resolve the issues that made you leave in the first place? If you’re leaving because you don’t feel adequately challenged in your current position then a salary increase isn’t going to bring you job satisfaction.

Once you’ve reminded yourself of your motivations for leaving in the first place, it’s then important to ask why your employer might want you to stay. Understanding why they’ve deemed you indispensable can help give a new perspective to your role and valuation within the business.

Here are some reasons why an employer might want you to stay:

• Finding a suitable replacement will be expensive
• It will mess up their budget to re-recruit that time of year
• They have not got time to re-recruit right now
• They want to have you cover while they hunt for your replacement
• They want you to finish the project you are working on
• They don’t have the time to train someone new at the moment
• Losing staff might reflect badly on your employer

The cold reality is that keeping you on because your skills are indispensable to the business is only one of many reasons employers issue counter offers. There are many other, equally likely, justifications which should factor into your decision. If you’re feeling really confident about how much your employer wants you to stay then you can even negotiate on the counter offer, some tips on how to do so provided here.

Should you stay or should you go?

To stay in the same position could feel like a step back

There is rarely a good reason to accept a counter offer and stay where you are. You wanted to move, you’ve been through the recruitment process, you’ve been successful and you have scored a job that meets your criteria. You’ve spent a lot of time and resource on your move, and you’ve probably emotionally already relocated. To stay in the same position after all of this could feel like a step back.

On top of all of this, you’ve got to consider what life would be like if you were to accept the counter offer and remain at the business. Once you’ve announced your intentions to leave your loyalty will always be in question. You’ve made it clear that you don’t see your long-term career progressing within this organisation so you’ve got to think about whether this will affect your employer’s decision-making when considering future promotions. Your colleagues might also look at you differently; knowing that you don’t really want to be there, you might struggle to regain the team cohesiveness that you enjoyed beforehand.

You’ve got to also consider the possibility that your boss will start planning for your replacement as soon as you accept the counter offer. If they’ve got someone waiting in the wings for when you next decide to look elsewhere this could cast a shadow over your everyday routine, in turn affecting your performance and overall satisfaction.

The statistics speak for themselves. 80 per cent of employees who have accepted a counter offer leave the company in six months and a further 93 per cent leave within 18 months.

When making your decision to accept the counter offer or not, remember above all to put yourself first. Don’t concern yourself with feelings of guilt or loyalty; your employer certainly doesn’t think this way. Once you’ve removed emotion from the decision making process assess with a clear mind whether the counter offer meets the concerns you had or the fulfilment you sought when you first decided to leave the job. If it does then great, you might not have to leave after all.

Do the job you love

Do not let an unexpected counter offer stop you in your tracks. Take it in your stride, thank your employer for the opportunity and reaffirm your intention to leave, unless the counter offer sufficiently meets your desires. However, should you decide not to leave for pastures new, be aware that your resignation has not been forgotten.

You are going to have to work hard to win back your employer’s trust. You might have to strive harder than your colleagues to prove your loyalty and worthiness as a long-term prospect. Your new post-resignation life with your old company is not going to be easy.

Should you stay or should you go? Well ultimately that’s your call. But do everything possible to ensure you wake-up tomorrow and think “I love my job”!

• Stop waiting to be recognised
• Do you know how and when to say no?