Offers and counter offers
February 22, 2008
Recently my partner has been offered a new job, after being headhunted by a rival firm through a recruitment agency. He’s had a really difficult decision deciding on whether the move is right for him, which has been made even more confusing by his current company making a counter offer and giving him the hard sell about why he should stay there. This is a difficult situation to deal with, and according to top recruitment specialists the tendency for employers to make counter offers is increasing rapidly due to the need to retain key staff in a tight employment market.
My advice to my partner was always to go for the new opportunity whatever happened with the current employer. I think that once you have considered the possibility of leaving a company it’s really hard to go back and take that thought out of your head. I also feel that employers should be able to assess the ongoing issues in the workplace, gauge where there are potential future leavers, and resolve the problems before it gets to that point. Counter offers, to me, always leave me wondering why the employer couldn’t have done something earlier if they are so eager to open their pockets now. Also, the counter offer more often and not involves some sort of financial incentive, and I would say that nine times out of ten this is probably not why the employee wanted to leave in the first place. When I left my last job, my boss asked me if there was anything they could do to entice me to stay; and I didn’t even bother trying to negotiate something because the thing I wanted was a different working environment altogether, which was obviously something that couldn’t be offered.
My partner was told he was very important and valued within the company, that he had a bright future there and that he might regret leaving etc. Whilst I do feel that his immediate managers value him very highly and might have big plans for a good career for him there, there’s no doubt that there are other factors that affect the need to keep him, including the cost and hassle of replacing him, training new staff up, the impact on clients, and the fact that another key member of staff leaving that department would make them look bad. It was, however, a really hard decision for him, made worse that the fact he was headhunted; which meant that he hadn’t even intended to find a new job; he was quite happy where he was before the recruitment consultant phoned him. I have always been in the position where I was looking for a new job myself because I was completely ready to leave: so the decision has never been that difficult.
I feel that a new challenge in your career is a good enough reason in itself to move on when offered a new role; you need to work in different environments to grow your capabilities in the world of work. What’s the worse that can happen? I have moved jobs in the past and absolutely hated every minute of the new job, but I found myself another one within three months and never looked back. That three months of hell has still given me experiences and new skills that I will always be able to use. If you’re going to leave a company, you need to be strong in your decision and the last thing you should do is spend the next few months lamenting the things you have lost if you’re a bit unsure of the new place: look at all the positive things you have gained, not least the variety of experience.
You hear a lot of horror stories about people who stay put and then the promises that were made in a counter offer turn out to be empty. The relationship between the employee and the manager has been eroded by the perceived lack of loyalty in looking for another job, which can affect future decisions relating to career progression, salary increases etc. According to statistics, 80% of employees who accept a counter offer subsequently leave the company or are dismissed within 12 months. Furthermore, of this 80%, over half reinstate their job search within three months. The best advice in this situation is to follow your gut instinct – only you know exactly what your company and manager are like – but be aware of the wider issues affecting the counter offer and understand that it is not only for the innocent reasons of how well you are valued by the company. You are, above all else, a resource that will cost time and money to replace. If you do decide to stay it should be beacuse you have considered everything objectively and feel that your company has a better future potential for you, not because your manager desperately tries to bribe you with an enticing offer that is unliklely to be fulfilled.
Finally, the best thing to do if you decide to leave is to do so graciously, do not burn any bridges, and it is likely that you will always have a job to go back to in the future (although once you have moved on you are unlikely to want to go back).
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Hi HR Girl
I work in HR for the care industry. In my previous role, in retail HR, counter offers were the norm. If you didn’t get the pay rise that you wanted you would look for another job just so you could get your current employer to offer you more money. Because of the high turnover in retail the employer would usually give in to retain the staff.
I think in your partners situation it is a fantastic opportunity and he must be very good at this job to be head hunted. However, to actively go out and look for a job just to get more money from your current employer maybe goes to show that you are not as valued as you think you might be.
Great article!
Sam