Counteroffers

Updated 4/22/2020

Most people in the corporate work force will face a counter offer at least one point in their career. Counteroffers are a very sensitive subject. When they are given to you by your current company, and subsequently objected by your future employer, sometimes it turns into smear campaign for the two companies involved, instead of using facts and an objective mindset.

While this post isn't research paper or a thesis, there is a lot of data that says that more times than not, it is not a good idea to take a counter offer for various reasons, and also that more times than not, it comes back to haunt you. However - that doesn't totally apply to everyone.

At the end of the day, you need to figure out why you actually put yourself on the market in the first place. A counter offer will most likely come with generous $ package and/or a promotion. However, as tempting as it may be, if your motivation was one of those, accepting a counter offer still comes with a major risk. If your motivated was not $ or a promotion and fore something else, you probably shouldn't be considering the counter offer at all. No matter how tempting the package, if your reasons for accepting the counter offer are flawed, you'll be nothing more than a statistic. There are various reports that say within 6-12 months after accepting a counter offer, between 80-90% of these candidates end up leaving for one reason or another. So not only did they end up leaving, they potentially gave up a good career opportunity and burned a bridge, and back where they started.

However, they do sometimes work out. My own father was an IT director for his career, and took a counter offer before and it worked out well for him. There are other candidates I have worked with in the past, that have taken counter-offers, and are still successful with the same organizations. At the end of the day, it is up to the candidate to determine the risk/reward ratio, and how comfortable they are managing and living through it.

Here are some questions you will want to ask yourself when deciding:

• Are you looking to leave because of money? Did you ask for a raise before? Why didn't you get it? Does your role and value say you are underpaid? Did you get any new responsibilities that justify the raise? What does the market say about your value when you were interviewing? Believe it or not, it is actually cheaper and more convenient to give someone a raise in the short term and start searching for a potential replacement, than to have the person leave and backfill them with nothing in between.
• Are you looking to leave for a promotion? Did you ask for one or apply for one, and didnt get it? If you accept the counter offer - what would the political landscape be? Why didnt they decide to promote you? Is there any upward potential after this promotion? Is it actually to a team or project that matters? Do you actually gain more responsibility or are they still calling the shots and just giving you an updated title? By accepting a counter for promotion, you will most likely be under more supervision and scrutiny. There is a reason why they didn't give it to you in the first place - they didn't think you were up for it or have what it takes. Every move you make or decision that is unsuccessful will be second guessed and micromanaged - are you up for that?
• Are you looking for more of a challenge? Does the offer they give you actually solve that?
• Repercussions? Have you considered there may be diminished trust moving forward? Your direct manager may feel blackmailed? What is your relationship with them now - are you OK with it being potentially tainted? What is your relationship with your direct manager in correlation with the people above him/her?
• Do you know of anyone else in the company that currently works there, or previously worked there? What was or what is their current experience?
• Is the counter offer 'legit'? In other words - did they magically come up with this before your last day with them? Or is it realistically something you could have envisioned them offering you in the future at some point?