The Real Cost of a Counter Offer: 10 Reasons to Say NO!
You give a two-week resignation letter from your current position and your employer makes a "counter offer" to keep you from leaving.
An employer may use this strategy to keep you because you put him in a spot with no other alternative. He now has to sacrifice loss of productivity or immediately search for a new candidate, hire, and train that new person...which takes time. As tempting as it may be, accepting a counter offer doesn't always end up in a "happily ever after" scenario.
You really need to think twice about accepting counter offers since the enchantment of it all may be short-lived and you risk damaging your reputation and being labeled as "disloyal." Additionally, your colleagues may resent you because you got a raise when you were "disloyal" to the company by leaving, and they didn't get a raise when they were "loyal" to the company by staying.
Even if you do stay, you've already proven that you'd leave, so the company may have reservations about investing anymore time or money into your career growth, or they may get rid of you altogether once they find someone to replace you.
So, are counter offers productive? Should you take the offer and hope all goes well? Following are "10 good reasons" that explain why accepting a counter offer can cost you more in the long run.
Reason # 1: If you take the counter offer now, does this mean you'll be passed up for a raise later? Is the company just giving you your raise earlier than you would have normally received it?
Reason #2: How do you feel about going to such extreme measures to get recognized for the value you offer? You need to ask yourself what type of employer you work for that he/she never provided you with what you are worth in the first place.
Reason # 3: How do you feel knowing that you accepted a counter offer? Do you feel as though you were bought?
Reason #4: Now your company/employer knows you are not happy at work. From here on out, your loyalty will always be in question.
Reason # 5: Your employer may start looking for a new employee now that you've shown an interest in leaving the company.
Reason # 6: If budget cuts result in layoffs, you may be the first on the list to go.
Reason # 7: If a promotion comes up later, your boss will remember who was loyal and who was not.
Reason # 8: Even if you decide to stay at your current position, statistics show that you'll probably be let go within one year, or you'll get fed up and leave within 6 months.
Reason #9: When your colleagues start to hear stories about your situation, chances are your relationship with them won't ever be the same.
Reason # 10: Money is just a band-aid...chances are the problems that moved you to resign in the first place are still present. After time passes, you'll be right back where you started--"unhappy!"
An employer may use this strategy to keep you because you put him in a spot with no other alternative. He now has to sacrifice loss of productivity or immediately search for a new candidate, hire, and train that new person...which takes time. As tempting as it may be, accepting a counter offer doesn't always end up in a "happily ever after" scenario.
You really need to think twice about accepting counter offers since the enchantment of it all may be short-lived and you risk damaging your reputation and being labeled as "disloyal." Additionally, your colleagues may resent you because you got a raise when you were "disloyal" to the company by leaving, and they didn't get a raise when they were "loyal" to the company by staying.
Even if you do stay, you've already proven that you'd leave, so the company may have reservations about investing anymore time or money into your career growth, or they may get rid of you altogether once they find someone to replace you.
So, are counter offers productive? Should you take the offer and hope all goes well? Following are "10 good reasons" that explain why accepting a counter offer can cost you more in the long run.
Reason # 1: If you take the counter offer now, does this mean you'll be passed up for a raise later? Is the company just giving you your raise earlier than you would have normally received it?
Reason #2: How do you feel about going to such extreme measures to get recognized for the value you offer? You need to ask yourself what type of employer you work for that he/she never provided you with what you are worth in the first place.
Reason # 3: How do you feel knowing that you accepted a counter offer? Do you feel as though you were bought?
Reason #4: Now your company/employer knows you are not happy at work. From here on out, your loyalty will always be in question.
Reason # 5: Your employer may start looking for a new employee now that you've shown an interest in leaving the company.
Reason # 6: If budget cuts result in layoffs, you may be the first on the list to go.
Reason # 7: If a promotion comes up later, your boss will remember who was loyal and who was not.
Reason # 8: Even if you decide to stay at your current position, statistics show that you'll probably be let go within one year, or you'll get fed up and leave within 6 months.
Reason #9: When your colleagues start to hear stories about your situation, chances are your relationship with them won't ever be the same.
Reason # 10: Money is just a band-aid...chances are the problems that moved you to resign in the first place are still present. After time passes, you'll be right back where you started--"unhappy!"
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