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Dealing with Counter Offers - Additional
Thoughts: From: The Quality Search – Information Library Quitting a Job is Never Easy: Career changes are tough enough and the anxieties of leaving a comfortable job, friends and environment for an unknown opportunity can easily cloud anyone’s judgment. But what should you do when your current employer “muddies the waters” even more by asking you to stay. A counter offer is an inducement from your current employer to get you to stay after you’ve announced your intentions to accept another job elsewhere. And, in recent years, counter offers have practically become the norm. If you are considering a counter offer, remain focused on your primary objectives. Why were you looking for another job to begin with? If an employee is happy with their current job, employer and/or salary, they’re usually not paving the roads with resumes. So, often times a counter offer that promises more money never really remedies the real reasons for wanting to move on in the first place. Apart from a short-term bandage on the problem, nothing will change the company and when the dust settles you can find yourself back in the same old rut. Recruiters report that more than 80% of those who accept counter offers, begin looking for another job, or are “let go” within six to twelve months after announcing their intentions. Counter offers are certainly flattering and make an employee question their initial decision to leave. But often times they are merely stall tactics used by bosses and companies to alleviate an upheaval a departing employee can cause. High turnover also brings a boss’s management skills into question. His reaction is to do what’s necessary until he’s better prepared to replace you. The things they’ll say: ·
“You can’t leave, the department
really needs you.” · “We were just about to give you a raise.” · “I didn’t know you were unhappy. Why didn’t you come to me sooner? What can we do to make things
better?” Again stay focused on your decision
and your opportunities. You need to ask yourself:What
kind of company do you work for if you have to threaten to resign before they pay you what you’re worth? Where did the money for the counteroffer come from? Is it your next raise or promotion just given early? Are future opportunities limited now? Will you have to threaten to leave again for another raise or promotion?
You’ve demonstrated your unhappiness and will
be viewed as having committed blackmail in order to get a raise. Your loyalty will also be questioned come promotion time.
Well managed companies rarely make counter offers since they view their employment policies as fair and equitable.
If you do consider being “bought back”, obtain the details of the offer in writing, as well as a one-year
“no cut” contract from the employer. If they refuse, as two-thirds of counter-offering employers
do, your decision to leave is made. Look at your current job and the new position as if you were unemployed,
then make your decision based on which holds the real potential. It’s probably the new job or you wouldn’t have
accepted it in the first place. Never Accept a Counter Offer: “It’s nice
to be wooed, but don’t expect to stay long.” Source: The Wall Street Journal 1998. Reprint
from the National Business Employment Weekly. By Paul Hawkinson. A tax accountant with a Chicago-based
public accounting firm accepted a top corporate position at a local manufacturer that paid $15,000 more than he currently
earned. But the accountant changed his mind after his firm’s senior partner made him a counteroffer.
The partner dangled a plethora of incentives, including the promise of a partnership in the near future.
Three months later, after the tax season ended, the accountant was fired. A manufacturing manager
with a medium-sized metal products company in Albuquerque, N.M., accepted a new position that included a higher salary and
better benefits. But he decided to stay put after his company agreed to match the offer and told him of
great things on the horizon. However, he wasn’t told that the firm might be merging with another.
Six months after the executive decided to stay, he was merged out of his job. Following nine months of unemployment,
he landed a lower-paying position. Ask any executive recruiter and you’ll hear dozens of heartbreaking
stores like these involving counter offers. Unfortunately, more executives seem to be getting and accepting them because of
the inconsistent economy. Companies are operating with reduced staffs and any defections from the ranks
create problems for those who remain. It’s much easier for employers to sweeten the pot to keep executives
from deserting than to conduct grueling and expensive searches for replacements. Mathew Henry, the 17th-century
writer, said, “Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in fine colours that are but skin deep.” The
same wisdom of nearly three hundred years ago can be applied for counter offers, those magnetic enticements
designed to lure you back into the nest after you’ve decided it’s time to fly away. But in
good times, or bad, the dictum remains constant. Counter offers should never be accepted...EVER! Those
few rare instances where accepting one is beneficial occur about as frequently as being struck by lightning. The Right Perspective: A counter offer is an inducement from your current employer to get you
to stay after you’ve announced your intention to take another job. It doesn’t include instances
when you receive an offer but don’t tell your boss, or when you tell your employer about an offer you never intended
to take in a classic “they-want-me-but-I’m-staying-with-you” ploy. These are merely positioning
tactics that can reinforce your worth by letting your boss know you have other options. Mention of a true
counter offer, however, carries an actual threat to quit. Interviews with employers who make counter offers,
and employees who accept them, have shown that accepting a counter offer—tempting as it may be—is tantamount to
career suicide. Consider the problem in its proper perspective. What really goes through
a boss’s mind when someone quits? ·
“This couldn’t be happening at
a worse time.” · “He’s one of my best people. If I let him quit now, it’ll
wreak havoc on the morale of the department.” ·
“I’ve already got one opening
in my department. I don’t need another right now.” ·
“This will probably screw up the entire
vacation schedule.” · ”I’m working as hard as I can and I don’t need to do
his work, too.” · “If I lose another good employee, the company might decide to ‘lose’
me too.” · “My review is coming up and this will make me look bad.” · “Maybe I can keep him on until I find a suitable replacement.” ·
“We’re working with a skeleton
crew already. If I lose this one, we’ll all be working around the clock just to stay even.”
What will the boss say to keep you in the nest?
These comments are common: ·
“I’m really shocked. I thought
you were as happy with us as we are with you. Let’s discuss it before you make your final decision.” · “Aw gee. I’ve been meaning to tell you about the great plans we have for you, but it’s been confidential
until now.” · “The VP has you in mind for some exciting and expanding responsibilities.”
· “Your raise was scheduled to go into effect next quarter, but we’ll make it
effective immediately.” · “You’re going to work for who?” “How can you do this in the middle of a major project?
We were really counting on you.” (They’re always in the middle of one.) Just a Stall Tactic: Let’s face it.
When someone quits, it’s a direct reflection on the boss. Unless you’re really incompetent
or a destructive thorn in his/her side, the boss might look bad for allowing you to go. It’s an implied
insult to his management skills. His/her gut reaction is to do what has to be done to keep you from leaving
until he/she’s ready. That’s human nature. Unfortunately, it’s also
human nature to want to stay --- unless your work life is abject misery. Career change, like all ventures
into the unknown, is tough. That’s why bosses know they can usually keep you around by pressing the
right buttons. Before you succumb to a tempting counter offer, consider these universal truths:Any situation is suspect if an employee must receive an outside offer
before the present employer will suggest a raise, promotion or better working conditions. No matter what the company says when making it’s counter offer, you’ll always
be a fidelity risk. Having once demonstrated your lack of loyalty (for whatever reason), you will lose
your status as a team player and your place in the inner circle. ·
Counter offers are usually nothing more than
stall devices to give your employer time to replace you. Your reasons for wanting to leave still exist
and they’ll just be slightly more tolerable in the short term because of the raise, promotion or promises made to keep
you. · Counter offers are only made in response to a threat to quit. Will you
have to solicit an offer and threaten to quit every time you deserve better working conditions? · By accepting a counter offer, you have committed the unprofessional and unethical sin of breaking your commitment
to the prospective employer making the offer. ·
Decent and well-managed companies don’t
make counter offers...EVER! Their policies are fair and equitable.
They will never be subjected to counter offer coercion, which they perceive as blackmail. If the urge to accept a counter offer hits you, keep on cleaning out your desk as you count your blessings. And, if you decide to stay, hire a lawyer to put your newly won promises in the form of a long-term no-cut contract. |
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