We can sum this up in one sentence:
You were looking to leave.
If you’ve ever made the decision to leave your job, at any point in your career, there will always have been a reason. Even if the sole purpose of changing employers is to get more money, is it really healthy to use job offers as leverage?
Here, we look at the 4 key reasons that counter-offers can be damaging for your career.
What is a counter-offer?
It’s a term that gets bandied around a lot in recruitment, but you may not yet have heard of it yourself.
The simplest explanation: a counter-offer is an offer made in response to another.
In other words, you receive a job offer from another firm, hand in your resignation and, in response, your current employer will attempt to lure you to stay by matching or raising that offer. The negotiation game plays out and, ultimately, you choose whether you stay and accept the counter-offer, or leave.
Why do counter-offers occur?
Unfortunately, it can take as much as an alternative job offer for an employer to see the value in their employees; however, this isn’t always the only reason.
Recruiting is a costly process; particularly at senior levels.This is why in engineering, technology and science - where skills shortages are particularly prevalent - counter-offers are very much common-place.
The drawbacks of accepting a counter-offer
1. You were looking to leave for a reason
Whether the reason you started to look for a new role was based on money, progression, culture, or something else entirely, the point is, you were looking to leave for a reason.
If you didn’t feel confident and secure enough in your role to have a conversation with your current employer, then even more reason to decline.
If you have had the conversation with your employer, why has it taken getting to this point for them to demonstrate how valued you are to them?
Accepting a counter-offer is not a guarantee to happiness. Weighing up the reasons you were choosing to leave in the first place, and carefully considering how much would truly change should you accept, are key.
2. Damage to your employee/employer relationship
It is almost certain that accepting a counter-offer will have a resounding effect on your relationship with your employer. Whilst they may have made the counter-offer, it is likely that doing so will leave them questioning your future loyalty to the organisation.
This, in turn, may result in the lack of another pay-rise for quite some time, feeling unappreciated or undervalued, or potentially even pushed out. Resigning breaks the initial trust that was once there, and it will hinder future success at the job. So even if the counter-offer seems alluring on the surface, you are likely to progress more at a new job where you have not threatened to quit.
Chris Jones, Principal Recruitment Consultant in Engineering for Scantec, says, “The best thing you can do is voice any concerns you have with your employer; whether that’s moving shifts, location or money. You may not even need to look for another role in order to get what you want. When you do choose to look for another role, be sure that you’re 100% ready to leave and exhaust your options with your current employer first.”
3. Job security & progression
As above, once an employer is aware of your intentions to leave, your loyalty will be in question. This still applies even after a counter-offer is issued. Many employers may believe you forever thereafter have one foot out the door, which may even obscure your chances for future career progression within the firm. You are also more likely to be viewed as more expendable than other employees who have not handed in resignations.
4. Self-worth
Wanting to leave an organisation is a sign that you are unhappy. For one reason or another.
If you hand in your resignation and your employer gives you a counter-offer, it may suggest that you were not even fully appreciated in the first place as a valuable employee. Unappreciated employees are twice as likely to experience poor mental health.
When an employer counter-offers, they are proving that they have the ability to offer more money, progression or office space, for instance, and that they were initially holding out on you. If it takes the threat of resignation for the company to treat you better, you need to evaluate the company’s integrity against your own self-worth.
Conclusion
As if these reasons weren’t enough, as many as 50% of employees end up leaving within a year of accepting a counter-offer.
Overall, accepting a counter-offer can damage your career; even if only in the short-term. But in such a close-knit industry, it’s also possible that news will travel and your loyalty may even come into question with potential employers in the future.
To help you make the decision on whether to stay or go, ask yourself one question:
Will a counter-offer address the real problem?
Get in touch
If you are currently looking for a new role in engineering, technology or science and would like assistance in finding the best employers, get in touch with Scantec today to discuss our recruitment services.
