Should you accept a counteroffer from your current employer? Ultimately it depends. Do you actually want to stay at your current employer?
The common statistic thrown around is that close to 60% of job-seekers that accept a counteroffer end up leaving their current company within 6 months of accepting that counteroffer.
The reasoning behind this is simple: a counteroffer usually serves to mask the problem rather than do anything to solve it.
If the things you want to solve are seemingly easy fixes (i.e. a raise, more PTO, a promotion) then accepting a counteroffer that offers you those things might be the right move for you. It’s important to ask yourself one thing, though. Why did it take you leaving to finally secure what you were looking for all along? If I had a guess, it’s probably because they didn’t think they needed to in order to keep you.
A friend of mine recently left their position for greener pastures and received a fairly quick counteroffer from their former employer.
To set the stage, this friend had expressed their disappointment over not getting promoted a month or two earlier - one that they were boosted up to think they were getting. The raise they received was nice but still didn’t equal what the promotion salary would have been. Their annual review was stellar, absolutely no feedback or areas of improvement were given
Instead of sticking around another year, this friend started job searching and secured a competitive offer pretty quickly. This came with more diverse duties and responsibilities, better hours, and an opportunity to use more of their skill set.
The counteroffer was competitive: a good raise, a promotion to start the new year, and a potential bonus mid-year. My friend talked through it with me (having a recruiter in your friend group can have its perks) and I suggested turning it down for a few reasons. After they did so, the terms got even better. They still declined.
Here was the thought process: their employer did not value them until they needed to. My friend had upfront discussions all along about what would make them happy yet it wasn’t acted on until it needed to be. Outside of that, not having any feedback on how to grow in the company was discouraging. How long would they have remained stagnant if they didn’t ever put in their notice?
The money was nice and so was the promotion, but what really changed outside of that? The company was still the same, as were the hours and the current workplace culture.
The thought that it took a resignation to finally get recognition was daunting. Would this be the only way to get what they wanted at this company?
If you genuinely like your company and would enjoy staying there if the terms got better, go ahead and accept the counteroffer. If your original set of issues would still exist after accepting the counteroffer, I’d take your chances on the new position.
You originally started looking for roles for a reason. Keep those in mind the next time you receive a competitive counteroffer.
This article is my own and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TEKsystems.
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