We encourage you to look at any article on accepting a “Counter-Offer”.  What you will find is counter-offers rarely benefit either the client or the candidate.  We have firsthand experience with clients who have just presented a candidate with a counter-offer then immediately call us to start the process replacing them.

Counter-offer statistics

According to national surveys of employees that accept counter-offers, approximately 80% of employees that accept counter-offers, are terminated, fired or laid-off their current employer within twelve months of accepting the counter-offer.

Of those that are not terminated, 50-80% voluntarily leave their employer within six months of accepting the counter-offer due to unfulfilled promises.

Accepting a counter-offer, no matter how attractive it may appear, greatly decreases the chance of maximizing your career potential.

A counter-offer can be very flattering and such flattery may cause you to temporarily lose sight of your original objectives. You may second guess your decision and feel the pull of the familiar. This is exactly what your present employer hopes will happen. Here are 10 important reasons for not accepting a counter-offer.

  1. When the “smoke clears” following a counter-offer, all the reasons why you wanted to leave are still there! You made the decision to leave because you felt that another opportunity would better fill you career needs.
  2. If you are worth more when you are leaving, why weren’t you worth more when you were staying? Where is the money for the counteroffer coming from? Is it your raise early? Companies have strict wage and salary guidelines which they are not going to change just for you.
  3. Your company will probably immediately start looking for your replacement at a lower salary.
  4. When tough times come, your employer may begin the cutbacks with you.
  5. You have now made your employer aware that you are unhappy. From now on, your loyalty may always be in question.
  6. Accepting a counter-offer may make you lose respect by seeming unsure and indecisive.
  7. It may seem harsh, but chances are good that the reasons for a counter-offer have more to do with inconvenience and avoidance of change, than with your indispensability to the company.
  8. Statistics show that if you accept a counter-offer, the probability of voluntarily leaving in six months or being let go within one year is extremely high. By that time, this new opportunity will be only a distant memory.
  9. Accepting a counteroffer is most likely an emotional rather than an intellectual decision.

In the final analysis, a counter-offer comes because of a resignation. Will you have to threaten to quit every time you want to advance within this company?