Considering a counter offer from your current employer?

9th January 2017

Counter-offers are becoming increasingly commonplace in today’s competitive skills market. The noticeable skills gap plaguing the engineering sector makes finding replacement staff an arduous and expensive task for employers. Not to mention the time it takes to find suitable candidates, interview them, negotiate terms and wait through their notice period, all before they can even start.

Understandably employers want to hold onto their best people and nobody can complain about a pay rise, so why should you think twice about accepting a counter-offer from your employer?

Our Guide:

1. Firstly, there must have been a reason you were looking for a new opportunity in the first place. Take a moment to think over your current situation. Are the original reasons you wanted to leave going to be resolved if you accept? Remember, over 50% of employees who accept a counter-offer end up switching jobs within the next 2 years anyway.
2. You may be planting a seed of doubt into your employer’s mind if you accept a counter-offer. They might privately question your loyalty or wonder if you’re still on the market for another opportunity. In time to come, you might find that you’re passed over for promotions or could even find yourself near the top of the list if the company makes redundancies.
3. You might be burning bridges with your prospective employer and your recruitment agency. Your chances of ever landing a job with them in the future will be slim to none and going forward you’ll probably find the recruitment agency will be hesitant to pass your CV onto other clients.
4. In more extreme circumstances, a counter-offer might just be your employer’s short-term solution whilst they find somebody to replace you. The increased cost of your salary in the short-term is a small expense compared to weeks of an empty chair at your desk. Whilst it might seem a little far-fetched, it has certainly happened to many people.

If you decide to decline the counter offer, be sure to keep your bridges intact by being polite and thankful to your employer. Assure them that you’ll do as much as you can to make the transition to your replacement as smooth as possible by providing a suitable handover. Send a thank you note around a week after you start your new job, it may just be the olive branch you need if things head south in your new role.