Counter-Offers. To Accept Or Not To Accept - That Is The Question

Picture this. You just landed the job of your dreams and you could not be happier! However upon discovery, your current employer presents you a counter-offer in order to persuade you to stay. What would you do then?

Due to a multitude of factors such as restrictive hiring budgets and resources, employers may feel inclined to present counter-offers to valuable employees who are about to resign. Counter-offers could be in the form of pay raises, bonuses, promotions or other benefits. While such offers may tempt individuals to reconsider their decisions, here is my take on why you should think twice about even considering the counter-offer.

In my experience as a headhunter for Tech Developers, it is an incredibly common occurrence that employers would put forward counter-offers in order to tempt the candidate to stay at the current company. Considering all things that are happening in the world right now, I totally understand why a candidate would reconsider their decision to accept an offer elsewhere. However, my advice to candidates: it is probably not a good idea to accept that counter-offer your current employers are offering you. Here is why.

First, you have to ask yourself why it only took the act of your resignation to be presented with a counter-offer. If the issue lies with monetary benefits (and you know that you did outstanding work), then you must ask yourself why you were not valuable enough to be given a pay rise/promotion/bonus before and why are they only willing to give you one now that you are leaving. The monetary gains (and or other benefits) may seem attractive, but you also have to remember why you chose to leave the company in the first place. Do not be afraid to question why it has taken the act of resignation to prompt the acknowledgement of your worth, and what would have happened had you had not started exploring your options externally.

Statistics compiled by the National Employment Association (and through my own experience) show that over 80% of people who accept a counter-offer, restart their job search in three months time. Counter-offers typically do not help solve the issues that lead individuals to consider leaving, especially if they involve non-monetary/financial reasons.

It is essential that you feel secure and confident about the reasons that motivated you to seek a different position elsewhere. That being said, those reasons must have been life-defining enough for you to even want to start the hunt for a new job! Never let counter-offer “bribes” deter your judgement and decisions - they only imply your ‘sudden worth’ to your current employer; an insult to your intelligence and a blow to your confidence. Moreover, counter-offers could just be another way for employers to avoid the ‘disruption’ the end of your tenure might cause (not to mention the time and effort it takes to find your replacement).

I know that this is a controversial issue and experiences vary on a case-by-case basis. However, this is mainly coming from my own experience - counter-offers usually do not end well for both the individual and the company (it really is a waste of time and effort for both parties), and affects the mental health of the individual. At the end of the day, my advice is to always make decisions that you think would make you happy and benefit you. After all, you are only as good as the work you produce - be sure to put yourself and your wellbeing first above all else.