BigOrangeMojo
The Member in Miss December
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- Jan 24, 2017
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I’ve always been told not to take counteroffers:
- if your company valued you, they should have paid you what the market (new job) says you’re worth already
- there’ll be an asterisk by your name as “the guy who was out the door”, affecting consideration for future opportunities (and layoffs)
- if you’re only leaving for money, that’s one thing, but most people leave for additional reasons (bad boss, terrible go-workers, poor benefits, no opportunities for advancement, flextime and WFH nowadays), and counter-offers rarely address those
What’s your take on this view, from both the employer and your-experience-as-employee view?
You are quoting the headhunter view on counters almost verbatim.
The answer is "it depends". If you are leaving for other stuff that can't be fixed with a counter (boss, benefits, lack of advancement, no flexibility) then yes, don't accept the counter.
Employer view - In my situation, I am responsible for a budget for a handful of people underneath me. I get a certain percentage increase each year and I have to divvy it up. What I will tell my top performers is if you see that you aren't at market, let me know. Don't accept anything from another company. But in times where you have 8-10% CPI inflation, 3% annual raises aren't going to cut it. No offense to @vollygirl but most HR/comp departments are very reactionary and not proactive in this market when it comes to retaining employees/making sure employees are at market. And most don't understand the nuances when it comes to determining market for various roles. It's the primary reason for the Great Resignation is this lack of forward thinking, market based approach.
Employee View - If it is money, I will tell my boss that I am not at market. I did this late last year and I got bumped up. It also helped that Pfizer had an opening for my role open with a public salary range. It was easy to show that I wasn't at market without actually interviewing or getting an offer. It's the first time I had done that at current employer.
