Let’s paint the picture.
You’ve been unhappy at work for a while, you’ve investigated new jobs, and you’ve gone for several interviews.
Great news, you have a job offer in front of you!!
S--- just got real. It’s decision time.
You believe the new job (and the higher salary, better working conditions) is the right move for you, so you take a big breath, you walk in the door to your current boss, and you deliver the resignation.
An hour later, your boss calls you in to their office and makes an attractive bid to keep you.
This, my friend, is what’s call a counteroffer.
There can even be counteroffers on a counteroffer, where the prospective employer makes a counteroffer if you rejected their first offer!
It's what we all fear (or for what some actually hope for??). They’ve matched the salary of the other offer. They’ve agreed with things like you can now work from home more often. They’ve even thrown in a couple of things you never dreamed they would do - hoorah! Your head is now swimming with indecision. Maybe all the things you’d been hating on aren’t really that bad after all? The new pay rise might just see you overlook all of that... for a while.
When you are faced with this predicament, it’s really important to put your pragmatic brain in gear. Let’s step back in time for a moment and remember what led you to start looking elsewhere in the first place.
A recent Glassdoor survey states that of those who are given a counteroffer and decide to stay, 80% end up leaving anyway within 12 months, and 50% are back job hunting after just 2 months.
Once the honeymoon period of the pay increase has taken place, people realise the old problems are still there and still bugging them!
If your current employer wanted you to stay so badly, where was this displayed in your past performance and salary review meetings? Why did it take a resignation to get them to demonstrate to you your true worth to the company? A bitter pill to swallow here is that the cost of recruiting, training and onboarding a new staff member can easily outweigh the cost of your pay rise.
If you weigh up the counteroffer from your current employer and feel that with the pay increase and improved conditions offered, that everything is going to be all better, be aware that what we often see is one (or more) of the following;
With the increase in pay, comes an increase in workload or responsibilities. Yes, you are getting paid more, but you are now working harder.
We sometimes see a decrease in trust from the employer - “they’ve tried to leave once, when will it happen again?” and things just don’t seem to be the same.
The reasons why you were looking to leave soon resurface and the pay increase doesn’t take that frustration away.
I’ve seen counteroffers hundreds of times over the years and I offer a few suggestions if you find yourself in this situation;
Don’t get caught up in the emotion. Keep your business brain firmly in gear at all times.
ALWAYS remember why you chose to leave in the first place. Will money make these issues go away or decrease your frustration?
Find out how much the pay increase actually gives you in your take home pay. $5,000 or $10,000 more a year sounds a lot but how much does it put in your bank account each week? Check it yourself here: https://paycalculator.com.au/
Do not get in to a "Dutch auction". This is where you play one employer off over another. "They said they would increase my salary by X, but if you give me Y I will stay".
Don’t stay because you feel guilty. This happens all the time (especially with females!).
If you do decide to resign, do it professionally. See your notice period out respectfully. Do not provide 2 weeks' notice right before you are due to take a 2 week holiday. This happens more often than you would think and all you do is burn bridges.
Had a counteroffer experience? Tell us about it in the comments below, we'd love to hear about it and chat to you about it!
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