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Counter Offer

If another organization found your skills, personality, background and profile appealing, there is a good chance that your current organization recognizes those same qualities. In today’s tight labor market, organizations cannot routinely afford to lose an “A” player. So, their initial reaction frequently is to make a counter-offer.

The real question is not whether your employer’s motives are genuine, temporary, or simply reactionary. More important to ask is, ‘Are their actions actually relevant to the decision YOU already made?’

We don’t want to insult your intelligence, and we have no intention of scaring you with false statistics and various theories about the dangers of accepting a counter-offer. The bottom line is that while counter-offers can be flattering, they do typically initiate the beginning of the end, and how you handle the situation tells everyone involved a great deal about your leadership/managerial style, decision making ability, and most importantly your principles.

Ten Reasons For Not Accepting A Counteroffer

1. You have now made your employer aware that you are unhappy. From this day on, your loyalty will always be in question.
2. When promotion time comes around, your employer will remember who is loyal and who is not.
3. When times get tough, your employer will begin the cutbacks with you.
4. Accepting a counteroffer is an insult to your intelligence and a blow to your personal pride: You were bought.
5. Where is the money for the counteroffer coming from? All companies have wage and salary guidelines, which must be followed. Is it your next raise early?
6. Your company will immediately start looking for a new person at a cheaper price.
7. The same circumstances that now cause you to consider a change will repeat themselves in the future, even if you accept a counteroffer.
8. 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.
9. What type of company do you work for if you have to threaten to resign before they give you what you are worth?
10. Statistics show that if you accept a counteroffer, the probability of voluntarily leaving in six months or being let go in one year is extremely high. Seven out of 10 people will leave on their own within 6 months. Three out of 10 will be let go within one year. 100% of counteroffers do not work.

If you are even considering that you might accept a counteroffer from your present employer, you should also consider removing yourself from any search process you may be involved with, and try to get what you want from your employer without threatening to leave. It puts you on much more solid ground.