Accepting a Counter Offer - need answer semi fast

In My Humble Opinion
1

So let me start this question with the preface that I have read the literature on all the reasons to not take a job counter offer and they all make sense. My question is more along any experiences or if special circumstances actually exist.

I recently accepted a job offer but upon giving my resignation was told they would match the offer. I know everyone thinks their situation is different but my executive team sure said all the right things.

So can anyone share their counter offer experiences as either an employer or employee? Would really appreciate some feedback.

2

This is more of an IMHO question than a Great Debate.

3

Don’t do it. Most people don’t leave one job for another just because of the money. But if you take the counter, your current job will see it as you just being all about the money.

4

I have moved on from several companies and have been counter offered ( and one when I wasn’t, but that was unsurprising given myself and the new president were not best of buddies). Never took them, because as others have said, generally the reason for moving on is not money, and even if you do stay you have already mentally made a commitment to move on and everyone knows this. Working at a reasonably senior level in my industry, I don’t counter offer, it never works. If it is a good person leaving, then we part ways on good terms, it is generally for career development which can’t be achieved within the company, or lifestyle ( rigs and stuff are not everyone’s cup of tea). After a conversation with the person it can be quite smooth and painless, and putting the person under pressure with an aggressive counter is not productive, good luck, stay in contact and hope to see you around the patch type stuff, you never know in future companies, they may be a good person to pick up. If it is a critical person and we haven’t covered the positions with some kind of succession/dev plan then we screwed up.
If it is an OK person, and chasing a dollar a day , then , meh they can leave, polite words of fare thee well.
If it is someone about who a manager says ‘phew finally’ or 'they weren’t that critical" I guess we saved some paper work and hassle terminating, but often leads to a review to see why we didn’t fire them earlier. Normally a pattern of half arsed performance reviews and lack of focus on people development turns up from that manager and coaching follows.
Either way, no counter offers.

5

" I know everyone thinks their situation is different but my executive team sure said all the right things. "

Then why didn’t they say, and more importantly do, the right thing earlier? They have been forced to wake up and make some platitudes, but there is a risk that they will think the problem has been solved and may harbor some resentment or mark you for lack of loyalty, or think you now owe them something.

Your resignation may truly be a ‘Road to Damascus’ moment for them and they will alter their behaviors that led you to resign in the first place, but given that they may think they have solved the problem with more cash, it is unlikely.
Leave on good terms, polite words, thanks etc , the new gig grass may not be that green after all, good luck.

6

Why do you think most people start a job in the first place?

7

If you do accept the counter offer, be worried if they start asking you to document you work practices or have you ‘train your backup’. They might have realized that your leaving might have put them in a lurch OR they might be thinking about pushing you out the door.

8

For a lot of reasons, money being only one. As this shows, money is the 3rd leading reason for leaving a job for another.

If one is leaving a job solely for more money, I agree with Precambrianmollusc - no counter offer. There will always be some other company who is willing to pay more. I should already be paying what the job is worth (not the person, the job), so I’m not going to get into a bidding war. Also, in my experience, it’s really not just the money and the person leaving always ends up going somewhere else anyway, so it is just delaying the inevitable.

9

I grant you the reason I work is for the money, but when choosing the specific job at which I work, money is only one factor. If a job is killing you with the commute say, then what use is extra in the pay check? You’re still being killed by the commute.

10

Curious - what did they say?

I would think 9/10 times your accepting their counter offer is bad news; you’ve already announced your intention to leave their workplace. Possibly your boss and friends there will be okay with you staying or possibly some colleagues will think they can do likewise (for the pay rise), not be offered a counter offer and feel resentment towards you.

Unless you’re leaving for the other job only for the money there, in which case it doesn’t sound like a place where you actually want to work and thus you wouldn’t be going there in the first place anyway…

Not sure where I’m going with this. Green is grasser, something something. I need a coffee.

11

I once leveraged a job offer into a counter from my then-employer fully expecting to accept it. And I did. And although I left for another job 2 years later, I did not regret it. In my case, I was in a position I liked a lot, I just wanted more money. I knew my worth to the company and rolled the dice that they would make the counter.

The second time around they asked what will it take for me to reconsider and I responded with a number so sky high I knew they couldn’t match it. And they didn’t. I still liked the job, but the new opportunity was too good to pass.

So bottom line, if you like where you’re at, stay.

12

Ok some explaining is in order. The executive that hired me directly was unceremoniously let go or left and that put me an uncomfortable position of thinking maybe I was next.

So I briefly started my career search and was quickly hooked up with a fortune 100 company. Within 2 weeks I had an offer. Around the same time the new executive came to me (not knowing I was looking to leave) and apologized for leaving me in limbo.

Unfortunately the new offer was a full 25% more money with great perks but obviously an unknown in terms of true fit. My existing position has great people and I was never unhappy but feeling like I was about to be let go and/or not communicated with had me scrambling to protect my family.

Once I give notice, I am treated with great respect and a counter offer within a few days. So as you or may not agree, my reasons do seem special and not the norm. I have broached the loyalty concern and they state that is not a concern for them given the circumstances… but working in an at will state means their certainly no sure things.

Not sure if that frames the situation better… I feel it’s a Brain vs Heart decision.

13

Wrong. And this is where lots of reflexive defenders of management fail in their thinking.

The employer should be paying the lesser of A) What the job is worth to the company and B) what the employee will accept.

So the ideal manager conducts in effect a reverse auction, starting at a figure a bit below A) then finding the employee willing to do that bill of work for the least money.

By and large, the most successful department heads are the ones who maximize the gap between what they pay out (the total B) and what it would be worth to the company to get the work done (the total A).

People who blithely assume all companies always pay the A amount are living in a fantasy land.

14

I whole lot better. You were (rightly) insecure about your job because of extenuating circumstances, not because you didn’t like working there, and were looking at your best options to parachute out, not not without a parachute (I’m really not doing these metaphors very well, am I?).

Still you’re going to be working with a new executive who replaced the one who hired you, rather than working for one who hired you directly. I see your new exec, in giving you the counter, as rehiring you and showing faith in your abilities so they’re actually on a level playing field there.

And you like where you are, you don’t know if the culture in the new place will suit you. Then again, you might never know if the new place would’ve suited you more if you went.

It’s a difficult, albeit quite nice, decision to make. Many are looking for any job; you have two employers wanting your skills and willing to pay 25% more than you thought you were able to get. You say the other company is a Fortune 100 company so I guess your current one isn’t. The big differences are obvious there, which makes it a Heart vs Head decision.

You could look at it this way: The Fortune 100 company is going to be there for a long, long time (unless it isn’t - rare but not unheard of). You might end up there in ten years, you might not. You could go there now and be unhappy and regret the decision, or you could stay where you are and be unhappy and regret the decision. Although the exec has changed the rest of the company and your colleagues haven’t. If your new exec is a wrong’un they might be out before anything else changes.

15

Sorry, calling BS on this one, at least on the blanket statement part. Our HR department does heavy market analysis annually on each of our positions. We know the market rate and, so long as the market is not crazy overpaying, that is what we set as midpoint of the pay range. We offer qualified applicants a midpoint salary. If you have stellar experience we may offer more, it is a rare occasion where we offer less. HR used to encourage “low ball” offers, until they finally figured out it’s cheaper to pay and retain than skimp and re-train.

In your industry it may be different, but in my case I stand by what I said.

16

I’ve accepted a counter-offer. I’m very happy to have done so.

The thing about counter offers is do they really fix what you’re worried about. If you hate the commute or your boss, the counter isn’t changing that, so you shouldn’t take it. If you’re just concerned about money or a perk that you get with the counter, it makes sense to take it.

17

Keep in mind #1 is “Advancement”. Which is really “bigger title for MORE MONEY”.

18

Not necessarily. I’ve had managers that were paid less than I was. Sometimes you just want to have the authority to do things or feel like you’re progressing instead of having a stagnant career.

Now, money is part of advancement, but if you took the guy that wanted a promotion and $10k raise, and only offered the $10k raise, he probably wouldn’t be happy because he didn’t get the promotion.

19

Not always, advancement comes with additional responsibilities , which get compensated for , in cash, status , recognition. People want advancement for many reasons, sometimes it is just the cash, sometimes it is because people want to set the direction of the company/engineering, want to be the person leading / saying what to do rather than being told what to do etc. I have seen ( and done myself) people move out of field operational positions into management , which is a career advancement, but for less cash short term, but greater freedom and ability to influence things.

With respect to Dr Jackson, I also agree, for field positions, engineer development positions, positions with fairly well defiend skills and functions etc you do a fair bit of market analysis and look at revenue and come up with a number which you think the job is worth and what skills you will get for that. So there is a macro level of widening the gap between what the job is worth and what you can get people to accept. There are quite a few caveats to that, all industry dependent as the good doctor indicated. For example if you looking to bring people in to develop, you will often end up overpaying ,form a purely job worth point of view, at the entry level.

For more creative positions ( senior eng , senior mmgt, scientist ) it becomes a far more flexible as it can be quite hard to define what the job actually is in detail, “other duties as required” is pretty much most of what ends up being done.

Once you have a pay structure , if anyone want’s more, it is quite reasonable to say you know what the job is worth and let them leave.

Obviously we need to be careful with the broad brush as every position and industry have their nuances, and as the OP was asking for our experiences in both receiving and issuing counter offers, that’s all we can do and have a discussion around it, can’t really give definitive advice to the OP.