Connexis Search Group helps Life Science, CLIA Lab, and Molecular Diagnostics companies fill staff roles with technically competent and specially trained candidates. In the last 6 to 12 months, however, Connexis has noticed an increase in candidates being given and accepting counteroffers from their current employers.
Counteroffers are usually in the form of a pay raise or promotion, given when an employee resigns. These can be very flattering to the employee who has planned to move on to another company, but they can be detrimental to their career in the long run.
Your boss may give you a counteroffer to retain your talent, and institutional memory, primarily because this is more convenient for them than to recruit, hire, and train someone to replace you, especially if you're a good employee. Before accepting a counteroffer from your current employer, there are a few things you should know and consider.
Counteroffer Statistics
Counteroffers used to be relatively uncommon, reserved by employers for only top-level management and senior official positions. In recent years, however, they have been gaining in popularity. Between 54-75% of employers say they extend counteroffers to their employees to keep them from leaving. Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees are up to 25% more likely to give a resignee a counteroffer than medium and large companies.
Replacing talent can cost a lot in terms of money, time, and energy, not to mention the slack managers and other employees need to pick up when someone else resigns. Morale drops and resignation can reflect poorly on that employee’s boss.
The cheaper option is often to offer the employee more money to get them to stay. A pay raise, an increase in vacation time, or a promotion to a different role or department is the most common offer employers make when trying to convince an employee to stay.
But the numbers show that this is only a Band-Aid that won't fix the original problem long-term. The statistics vary depending on the study, but everyone agrees that most people who accept counteroffers either leave or are fired from their companies within the following two years.
Promotions are often offered to convince an employee to stay, though there are no hard statistics on how often promotions happen when an employee accepts a counteroffer. There are also no stats on whether employees continue to be promoted within their companies after staying on. The likelihood of this is low, though, as only 25% of employees who accept counteroffers stay with their employers for four years or more.
Should You Accept a Counteroffer?
Because counteroffers are almost always short-term solutions meant to make your boss’s life easier, there are not many benefits to accepting them. There are many reasons not to take a counteroffer if your boss gives you one.
Your Reason to Leave is Still There
Unless you purely wanted to get a raise—and your boss gave you the raise you wanted—the original reason you wanted to leave is still going to be present in your workplace. This could be a lack of upward mobility in your company, management behavior, or feeling underappreciated for your work. If your reason for leaving is the latter, accepting a counteroffer might make it worse, as discussed below.
You Will Be Seen as Untrustworthy
When you resigned from your position, your boss and coworkers saw that you were willing to leave. You will develop a reputation as being disloyal and untrustworthy, someone who isn't in it for the long run. Your boss may treat you better when you first accept the counteroffer, but you will be marked from then on.
The Counteroffer May Be Your Last Promotion
If you are seen as someone ready to jump ship, your employer may start looking for a replacement for when you eventually leave. This will stunt your company's growth and may even result in you being fired once your employer has found a sufficient replacement.
Your Boss Will Resent You
Now that your intentions to leave are known, your boss will likely harbor negative feelings towards you, taking your resignation personally. This can harm your relationship with your boss in the future.
Promises Go Unfulfilled
If your boss is scrambling to get you to stay for their benefit, they could say anything to accept the offer. This could include a big promotion or a 20% raise, which seems too good to pass. However, if the promise isn't in writing, it can often go unfulfilled once you agree to stay.
In Conclusion
If you are unhappy with your current employer, ask yourself if your boss can fix whatever is bothering you. If they can reasonably make you happy to stay with them, it is better to ask for these changes before interviewing other companies. This will save you from declining a hasty counteroffer or learning after you've resigned that the problem could have been fixed all along.
No Comments