QuestPro – Insurance Recruiting Specialists

Counter-Offers

So, you’ve been approached by another company or been actively looking for a new opportunity and all your work has paid off. Congratulations! You got the offer and have accepted the job. Whether you are leaving your company due to discontent or leaving a good job for a great one, you have analyzed and deliberated over your decision. However, upon resigning, your current boss gives you the “We want to keep you” speech and asks you to stay. This appeal is known as the “Counteroffer” – Beware!

With the growing demand for qualified workers in the industry and the expensive costs (both in money and time) to train new employees, counteroffers have become the norm. There are many forms of the Counteroffer that a company or manager will utilize in order to be successful in keeping their employee who just resigned. Most counteroffers come in the form of flattery or promise of new rewards, money, promotion, and sometimes even guilt trips or negative remarks about the company you are going to.

These are quotes given to us by either management who utilize counteroffers or by other employees who have received a counteroffer in the past:

• You are irreplaceable! We need you.
• You can’t desert us, your friends, your team.
• What did they offer you? We can beat it.
• What do you need to stay? We’ll do it.
• Why would you want to work for that company?
• We were just about to give you a promotion/raise, and it was confidential until now.

Of course, they can be very persuasive and appealing at times. However, take a long moment to think on it. Why a raise/promotion now when I was worth the same yesterday as today? There are many practical reasons for an employer to counteroffer. Consider how your employer feels to loose you.

The Facts about accepting a Counteroffer

More than 80% of those who accept counteroffers leave, or are terminated within six to twelve months. And 50% restart their searches within 90 days.

Finally, when looking at your new opportunity, are you just leaving for more money?

Probably not. Even if you received more from your current employer, it doesn’t change the atmosphere, the lack of growth, or any of the other issues that have prompted you to look elsewhere (including the other opportunity). All things considered, there are usually solid reasons for you to have looked at another opportunity and that a counteroffer, however persuasive, will not resolve but only delay the inevitable. So – a word to the wise – beware and be cautious in such circumstances.