BEATING THE COUNTEROFFER TRAP

You find yourself resigning from your job to accept a position you believe will be better for you. Maybe the perfect opportunity has simply fallen in your lap, or maybe you’ve been planning your escape for a long time. But when you tender your resignation, your boss surprises you by asking you to stay.

You’ve just walked into a trap known as the counteroffer.

What To Expect

First understand this: Once you’ve given notice, your boss has little to lose and everything to gain by talking you into staying until he or she can find someone to replace. Bosses are judged on their ability to retain staff, in addition to running their departments smoothly. When someone leaves, workloads shift, recruiting costs are incurred, and there is some period of chaos. No boss likes to be “fired” by an employee, and no boss likes to have to make adjustments to cover the vacancy on short notice. It’s better to maintain the status quo, even if it means paying you a little more for a time, and then firing you when it’s convenient for them.

You may hear flattery, mixed with a guilt trip. The CEO wants to meet with you before you decide. You’re too valuable to lose. Your team depends on you. We’ll be in a bind if you desert us. If you’re good at your job, these compliments are probably at least partially true, which makes them all the harder to ignore.

Your boss may try to undermine your perceptions about your new employer, disparaging their reputation or sharing with you some scuttlebutt you may not be privy to. Most likely, you’ll be offered come increased compensation, such as a raise, a promotion, a change in responsibility or reporting structure that will make your job more appealing.

The Downside Of Staying

Your employer may truly consider you a valuable asset and genuinely care about you. You may be a heavy hitter; you may know your company really wants to keep you happy. But your interests will always be secondary to your boss’ interests, and to the interests of the company. A counteroffer merely demonstrates your employer’s disrespect for the time and consideration you’ve invested in the decision to move on.

If you accept it, the search for your replacement will likely begin the moment you go back to your desk.

If you’re leaving because you’re dissatisfied, it’s highly unlikely anything significant will change to make you happy if you stay, no matter what they promise. After the dust settles, you’ll be in the same rut you were in before.

We’ve observed through interviews with our candidates and clients, that over 80 percent of those who accept counteroffers either leave voluntarily or are terminated within six months, and that half of the employees who succumb to the counteroffer trap reinitiate their job search within 90 days.

Think Before You Succumb

Whatever they throw at you, remember: You are the same employee you were before you gave notice, so if you are worth what they’re offering to entice you to stay, why weren’t they paying you that all along?

Ask yourself these questions:

Where will your additional salary come from?
Did you just trade future growth for a short-term pay increase?
Do they perceive your resignation as a form of blackmail?
Will you have to threaten to quit again to get your next raise?
Are you now outside the circle of trust?
Did you make enemies by giving notice?
Will they be looking for someone cheaper to replace you?

And Finally, Consider Your Reputation

Remember, you have already accepted the offer from your next employer. They have stopped their search and let the other candidates they were considering know that the job has been filled. If you renege now they will not be happy with you. They will think this was your plan all along, and that you just used them to get a better job or a raise with your current employer.

The key people in that organization will not forget you, but what they will be thinking of you will not be good. It is a very small world. People talk. If your name ever surfaces you can be sure they will retell the story of how you accepted and then took a counteroffer.

Your reputation is at stake. Guard it. You have made a good decision. Stick with it.