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Should I accept a counter offer?

Simple answer, no.

Counter offers are becoming more popular, especially for highly skilled technical staff that are hard to come by. Many employers give counter offers to try and stop their employees from leaving and to give them something to stay for. But in our experience as recruiters we find that most counter offers are counter-productive and there are multiple reasons to why you shouldn’t accept one from your current employer.

Back in 2012 we wrote about the eight reasons why you shouldn’t accept a counter offer and things haven’t changed much.

Value

So, you’ve handed your notice in and your current employer offers you more money to stay. This might seem like a win-win situation, but it shows that your employer has been paying you less than you are probably worth to them. It shouldn’t have to take you resigning for your employer to see your value to the company.

Money

Many companies, no matter the size, have strict wage and salary guidelines they have to stick to and follow closely. This can bring the question of where the extra money for the counter offer is coming from. Could it be your next pay rise, or even out of your bonus?

Risk

By letting your employer know you are ready to leave you could potentially be putting your own role at risk if you stay. It will always be in your employer’s mind that you were prepared to leave and they may start looking for a replacement, at a lower salary, because of this.

Loyalty

Letting your employer know you want to leave and are unhappy can also make them question your loyalty. The trust and relationship you have built since you started at the company can be destroyed and by accepting a counter-offer your loyalty and trust will be questioned.

Promotion

When promotion time comes around your loyalty will come into question again, your manager will remember who has been loyal to the company and who hasn’t. By threatening to leave you may be ‘looked’ over and miss out on any promotions or pay rises.

Redundancy

If your current company gets to the point where employee numbers need to be reduced, you may be more likely to be at risk. As you are being paid more you are now a higher financial cost to the company, and the company know you are not happy and are more likely to leave anyway.

Motivators

It’s very unlikely that the reason you handed your notice in was because of money, and was more likely to be a change of culture and challenge. By accepting more money these circumstances won’t have changed and they will repeat themselves in the future.

Stats

If the reasons above are not enough to not accept a counter offer let the stats do the talking. 80% of people who accept counter offers leave the company within 6 months, and 93% will be gone within 18!

These are just a few reasons we believe you should not accept counter offers, it can be different for everyone and sometimes counter offers can work out, but from our experience this is rare. If your employer has tempted you to stay with a counter offer it is always best to weigh up your options and think about your real motivators for handing in your resignation.

Have you turned down or accepted a counter offer? Do you feel it was the right decision? We’d love to hear your experiences with counter offers

KDR Recruitment is the home of the best Information Management and Data Analytics jobs. For more career advice check out the KDR blog or follow us on LinkedIn.

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