Should You Accept a Counter Offer?
During a recent job search, you were offered a position at a company with growth potential and an increase in compensation. Following careful consideration and evaluating your career goals, you reach the decision to leave your current role and to accept the new position. However, upon resigning, you receive promise of a promotion and lofty incentives to remain on board. Why? Because your current employer realizes the void of lost insights and invested training that would need to be replaced when you leave.
Counter offers are enticing.
Faced with a plethora of possibilities to keep you in your current role, additional benefits and an increased salary appear attractive when weighing the odds against the fear of the unknown. But HR recruiting executives advise strongly against accepting a counter offer. More so, the probability of voluntarily leaving in six months or being asked to leave within the year is extremely high.
Here are a few reasons why accepting a counter offer is not in your best interests:
It Is Not a Long-term Solution – Accepting a counter offer merely places a Band-Aid on an otherwise unfavorable situation. The underlying reasons that motivated you to engage in a career search cannot be masked by an increased salary, especially not for an extended period of time. These issues will continue to permeate through the course of your employment unless they are brought to the attention of your immediate supervisor and a tangible course of action is determined.
Do you really want to work for an organization where you have to threaten to resign before they consider your worth?
Responsibilities May Change – As a company agrees to increase your salary, they may require more from you in terms of productivity, hence an increased set of responsibilities and a greater work load. You may be held more accountable as the company invests further in your role. On the other hand however, your range of involvement may be reduced dramatically until they find a replacement to take your position.
Are you prepared to be held accountable for additional services or run the risk of being relegated to the lower ranks until they ask you to leave on their terms?
Jeopardizes Internal Relationships – The range of communication among colleagues is expected to change once they learn you were seeking job opportunities elsewhere and have since accepted a counter offer. By entertaining an employer’s plea to remain on board, you demonstrate a level of dishonesty and disloyalty to senior management and the company. Your decision to no longer be a part of the team will impact your colleagues’ outlook and essentially jeopardizes the group dynamic.
Are you willing to risk your credibility among your peers and the trusted stream of communication within your sphere of influence?
During my tenure in the field of HR recruiting, I have witnessed firsthand the detriment of candidates accepting a counter offer and how it negatively impacts their career in the long term. Despite the enticing promises of a promotion or future considerations for advancement, avoid accepting a counter offer at all costs. The long-term benefits of stepping beyond your comfort zone and advancing your career with a company that already values your contributions far outweighs the short-term perks of a lofty increase in a stagnant role.
Have you been faced with the decision to accept or decline a counter offer? I would like to hear your insight and how you handled the situation.