5 Reasons Not to Accept that Counter-Offer

Two of my friends recently started new jobs.  In both cases, I had the opportunity to spend some time on the phone with them and hear their thought processes about whether to leave where they were at.  I may be coming to that crossroads myself sometime in the near future, but a job move on my part would likely be inspired by my desire to live with my wife rather than an attempt to advance my career.

Both my friends began looking for work out of fear that they might be downsized because of uncertainties surrounding the companies they were with.  Both secured as good or better opportunities before the uncertainty at their current position settled.  Both informed their employers that they might be leaving for another opportunity.  Both were offered counter-offers, that is, more money to stay at the job they were already doing.  Neither took the counter-offer, even though the offers were for as much or more money than the job they were leaving for.  This reminded me of some advice my uncle gave me: Typically, if you tell your current employer you’re leaving, that employer will offer you a counter-offer in an attempt to get you to stay.  You should almost never accept that counter-offer.  Here’s why:

1.  Your employer will resent you for looking around for another job, even if you had a good reason to worry about the job you already had.  If you’re looking for a job, keep it to yourself for as long as is possible.  Give your employer notice after you get hired at a new job, so as not to burn bridges with your networking resources, but keep it under your hat until you have a bird in hand.

2.  Your employer will resent the fact that he now has to pay you more to do essentially the same job.

3.  The risks that your company was facing, or the reasons you thought you might want to leave (whatever they may have been), are probably still true. 

4.  Changing jobs is healthy.  It gives you more diverse experiences and discourages you from stagnating.  A new job can challenge and invigorate you.  Obviously, employers want people to stay in their jobs.  The longer you work at a particular job, the more efficient you become.  Changing employees is expensive, the new person won’t be as good as your experienced, departing worker and the employer will bear the cost of training the new employee.

5.  You don’t owe your employer your loyalty.  You owe it to yourself and your family to do what is in your own best interest.  Changing jobs is a business decision.  Plus, if you work for a company, especially a big company, don’t expect them to be loyal to you or care about you when things get tough on them.  Most publicly traded companies lay off employees at the first sign that they’ll miss their earning projections.  Companies have cut back on pensions, retirement matches and health insurance benefits.  All you owe your company is to work hard an honestly for as long as you’re there.  Even at a small company, don’t expect the owner to take care of you before he takes care of himself.  That’s the nature of business.  The business owner is taking on all the risks associated with owning the business, and for that reason gets to reap the rewards as they come.

That’s not to say, of course, that you should never take a counter-offer.  It’s nothing more than a rule of thumb.  You’ll have to evaluate each individual offer and opportunity as it comes.  That being said, changing jobs is often an excellent opportunity for both personal and career growth.  What do you think of my uncle’s advice?  Thanks for reading.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tagged as: changing jobs, counter-offer, decision making, leaving your job, looking for a new job, when to change careers, when to change jobs