I am sure you must have gone through a similar situation, where the moment you hand over your resignation or you speak to your boss regarding a better opportunity waiting for you a counter offer will pop out from the manager’s side.
The formula they use is- give him what he wants and he will stay.
Counter offers usually take the form of money or some other benefits like increased responsibilities/promises of future promotions, salary reviews, emotional pressure like guilt etc. etc.
Counter offers are always flattering; the feeling to have two firms competing to get you on their side is highly delightful. However, the question here is, why should you resign to get what you’re really worth? Does this mean that you coming into the office every single day and dutifully attending to your roles didn’t make you deserving enough for a raise?
There is always a hidden motive behind these counteroffers. Your employer may want to retain you until he finds a replacement. Also when a company hires a new person they may have to spend much more on recruiting, hiring or training that person, hence it’s cheaper for them to pay you a little extra than to spend on a new employee.
According to a recent Forbes article, accepting a counter-offer is usually a “career suicide”. After accepting a counter offer, the reasons why you were not satisfied with your current job will always be there. Whatever turned you off about your job will continue to be bothersome even after you accept the counter offer. The hike in your salary or the raises in designation are unlikely to make those issues bearable.
As you have made your employer aware of your discontents, your current employer offered you some extra to get you to stay to suit his purposes. The moment you accept a counter you will be viewed with resentment and suspicion. Your loyalty will always be questioned. If the company is going through crisis and has to lay off a few people do not be surprised if you are somewhere on the top of the list. Your relationship will be based on money which is not a very healthy criterion. Also once the word gets out, the relationship with co-workers will never be the same. Statistics show that 85% of those who accept a counteroffer end up leaving or get fired within the year.
According to a recent Forbes article, accepting a counter-offer is usually a “career suicide”
On the other hand, the job offer that you have accepted, that employer already considers you as a valuable source of the company. Your reputation at your current company is of one who can be brought by money and your “would have been boss” thinks of you as someone unprofessional who backed out after giving a word.
So how do you avoid a counter offer?
The best way to resign is to graciously thank the manager for the experience working with them. When the manager approaches you to discuss the counter offer, thank him and begin discussing the transition instead.
