Accepting a counter offer? Who is the real winner?

By Tony Haley

Accepting a counter-offer is not a good long-term decision for you. It simply fixes a short-term problem for your current employer.

Assuming you are already employed, when you accept a new job the resignation will have to follow. This is often a bit of a dilemma to many because it is the most emotional aspect of finding a new job; quitting your old one. What will they say? Will they offer me more money? Will they beg me not to go? Will they be sorry but professional and wish me all the best? Will they be pleased to see me go?

Let’s assume they make you a counter-offer. Should you accept it? A lot of this decision is based around how much they are offering you to stay, after all everyone has their price and money was probably what encouraged you to look for a new job in the first place, but should you accept it?

Who benefits most from you accepting the counter-offer? You? Your current employer? Your potential employer who just offered you a new job?

You don’t but you might not realise it for a while. The company who offered you the job don’t because they thought enough of you to offer you an attractive job and salary, invested time into getting you only to see you talked out of it. (Mind you, if you are that easy to be bought back, they might actually benefit by not getting you).

Your current employer benefits but not because of what you think. They don’t benefit because they get to keep you. In fact the chances are that your cards are marked and they probably won’t trust you again. They benefit because they don’t have an immediate problem of you leaving and not having a replacement ready. By accepting a counter offer, you have fixed a short term problem for your employer but it is not a good long term solution for you. Statistically, it is likely that you will leave the company within the next 6 months either because all the reasons that made you look for another job in the first place are still there or they don’t need you anymore and the decision is not yours.

Don’t accept another job unless you are 100% convinced it is the best move for your career at that time and once you have made that decision, stick to it. Don’t be tempted to stay. If they thought you were really worth the extra money, why didn’t they pay you that in the first place?