Why The Counter Offer Doesn’t Work & Why You Should NEVER Accept One

April 2021

What is a Counter Offer?

“A counter offer is the response given to an offer, meaning the original offer was rejected and replaced with another one. Counteroffers give the original offerer three options: accept it, reject it, or make another offer and continue negotiations.”

Why do employers counter offer?

• To save money and time – it’s cheaper to give a pay rise than to recruit and train a new staff member
• It is often a stall tactic until the Employer comes up with a better plan – on average, it takes 68 days to recruit someone
• By retaining the Employee, the company is also retaining their knowledge. It can take a new hire several months to settling into a new role
• To maintain staff morale and keep the team focused

Beware of Enticements!

Your Employer is likely to try to entice you to stay by saying something like;

• “We were planning to promote you…”
• “You were in line for a bonus…”
• “We want to give you more company benefits..”
• “You are our star employee, we can’t afford to lose you…”
• “We want to put you on a new project…”
• “There was a training course we wanted to send you on…”

Why you should NEVER accept a counter offer:

• Statistically, more than 70% of people who accept a counter offer will leave that role within 12 months. Put simply – it won’t work out for you in the long run.
• The reasons you chose to leave will still exist
• You are holding yourself back.
• Your loyalty to your Employer will be questioned, and your relationship with your Employer will be damaged. This may make you more vulnerable when redundancies occur in the future. Remember, the reason you are being enticed to stay is not for your benefit, rather the Employers…
• Counter offers are flattering, and while it’s nice to feel wanted, that is not a reason to stay.
• If you were truly valued – you would have received that promotion, pay rise, bonus or training already.

Have you been counter offered? What was the outcome? I would love to hear your story & how it turned out for you. Please feel welcome to comment and share this post or reach out for advice.