Counter offer process when leaving

Esho

Hi

Does anyone know how the counter offer process works when current employer does not want you to leave when you get a better offer?

Do you usually show them the offer letter from the new employer?

SouthWesterly

Just remember why you are leaving.

Dial Hard

I wouldn't be showing them anything. If they want to keep you, they'll ask you what it would take when you hand in your notice.

Be aware, though, that many employers have a policy of not counter-offering. Also, if they do make an offer and you take it, you've likely burned your bridges with the new employer for life. Depending on the industry, I'd be very careful about that.

And as SW says, remember why you were leaving in the first place. Pretty sure I read somewhere before that the majority of people who accept a counter-offer end up leaving within 6-12 months anyway. Which is why many companies don't bother.

28064212

Why would you show them the other company's letter? Or even tell them what the offer is? Do you not understand that you hold all the cards in this scenario?

Decide what it would take for you to stay, and tell them that. They won't offer that? No problem, take the new company's offer.

markpb

You tell them that you’re leaving and let them decide what to do next. I wouldn’t show them the offer letter and I wouldn’t give exact details of your new salary or package. They might ask what you were offered or what you’re expectations you need to stay are.

MarkR

Is this a "I promise I can change" counter offer? Do you think things will actually change? Usually it takes a company move to advance your career.

AlanG

Definitely do not show them any letters. If you are willing to stay then just politely let them know what you will require. Do it all in a business like manner. if they can still get value out of you at that amount they may meet your requirements. Don't go mouthing to others what you have done or they may let you go rather than set a precedent.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058279291/counter-offer-process-when-leaving

You'd be mad to stay with an employer who waiting until you were leaving to make an offer.

Tork

Is this the same job that was burning you out a few months ago? If it is, then keep walking.

Esho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120098884#Comment_120098884

Thanks for this. Really good point about the other employer. Food for thought

Esho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120098905#Comment_120098905

How do you mean " i can change?".

Yes it would be a big step up to go.

Esho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120101212#Comment_120101212

Yes it is. I see roles in the company with a near perfect work life balance. Staying would hinge on such a sideways move.

Esho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120098997#Comment_120098997

How do you mean?

Esho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120098997#Comment_120098997

How do you mean?

What employer offers anything better to an employee out of the blue?

sammye333

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106249#Comment_120106249

Annual review? This is where you get a chance for a pay rise.

Atlantic Dawn

I'd give zero detail, any employer who doesn't know the going rate of pay for their staff shouldn't be in business. If they offer you 20% more than the offer I'd reconsider the move but only on the basis that it would realistically leave you committed to the place for 3-5 years or else you would lose face.

listermint

It's simple. Hand your notice be willing to go and hear them out. Discuss with them make your own offer if they are close and if it suits make up your own mind.

Don't listen to and advice above. It's an opportunity to get what you want from the company. If it doesn't suit then proceed as you were planning to do.

db

If your current employer is willing to pay you more for the same job you do now why would you want to stay there? They have been under paying you and deserve no loyalty. Any promises they make to you will soon be forgotten when you withdraw your notice. I made the mistake many years ago and let an employer persuade me to stay. The company got into trouble later and loyalty was the first thing to go followed by me.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106439#Comment_120106439

It’s hard to believe that someone thinks the onus is in an employer to always pay you as much as possible, that simply isn’t the way business works.

Wages are usually negotiated as the going rate changes, and the best way to checking what you are worth, is to apply for a job in the market. What it comes down to for the op is if they enjoy working where they are, or if he/she wants a new challenge. A higher offer is a great bargaining tool when negotiating a pay rise with a company you want to stay with, but there is no guarantee it will be matched.

But thinking just because X down the road is paying much higher rates because they need someone doesn’t mean automatically every employer should raise pay rates to that level. If they want to keep a particular staff member they may have to, but the employer may also be able to hire at a lower rate. Employers also know that when a staff member comes with an ultimatum, they have one foot out the door anyway so it may just be putting off the inevitable.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106461#Comment_120106461

Leaving is the only thing employers understand. They don't reward loyalty. Then complain about staff shortages.

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/careers/millennials-gen-z-workers-great-resignation-ireland

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/staff-shortages-in-healthcare-sector-boost-salaries-by-up-to-4000-42258688.html

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/staff-shortages-driving-more-than-a-quarter-of-firms-mulling-a-sell-off-or-buyout-41983694.html

The best way to grow your salary and your career is to keep moving.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106528#Comment_120106528

Undoubtedly, if the motivation is salary alone, but there can be other considerations. There is no guarantee your career will keep moving, employers can also make promises to new hires that may not be kept.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106547#Comment_120106547

Then just keep moving.

As can be seen from all the retention articles employers are miserly not just with salary but with other terms and conditions as well. You need to move to get better conditions.

Esho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106528#Comment_120106528

That seems to be the case alright.

Esho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106528#Comment_120106528

Wow. Interesting independent article.

Thanks

steve-o

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058279291/counter-offer-process-when-leaving

It sounds like you are going looking for a pay rise using the offer as leverage. That rarely works. You need to actually resign, in writing.

In most decent sized companies, managers are constrained by rules and pay ranges and can often not give you the pay rise they want to give. A resignation is often the only thing that can allow an out-of-band pay rise. I've used a tactical resignation several times in the past to get a pay rise, because that's how the system works in many companies.

If your manager wants you to stay, they'll ask what it will take to make you stay. Tell them what you are getting in the new job (more money, better role, etc.), but if you really want to stay where you are, then just make it about money. If they don't try to keep you, or don't make an acceptable offer, then so be it.

bucketybuck

There can't seriously be people who think that managers should be walking the corridors handing out pay raises just to make sure all wages are fair, how simple and naïve can you get?

The best advice in this thread is that the OP should not be threatening to leave, he/she needs to actually hand in that letter of notice and be prepared to follow through on it. Because it will do more harm than good to threaten to leave but then stay for some small rise or marginal change in rate. You need to show that you are actually prepared to follow through, otherwise you will get no respect.

Don't show any offer, it is irrelevant. The only relevant things are the fact that you are leaving and the details of what you personally demand in order to stay.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106930#Comment_120106930

Some of us have worked in places that have annual increments, bonuses, share options, raises. You do well you are rewarded.

If you have to resign to get pay rise there something wrong. But certainly is becoming the norm in recent years. But what goes around comes around. Hence companies complaining about being ghosted.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220311-why-workers-and-employers-are-ghosting-each-other

If you only see people as cost to run to the lowest price. They'll do the same back. So now a job only worth what it pays, as soon as you get better you jump ship and don't look back. If in the middle of doing recruitment you get a better offer, you take that aswell.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120107126#Comment_120107126

You clearly have a chip on your shoulder about big bad business, but all this has little relevance to your original claim that "You'd be mad to stay with an employer who waiting until you were leaving to make an offer."

Annual increments for example, the classic case of giving staff pennies so that they don't ask for pounds. Believe me, my negotiated salary increases far outstrip anything I would ever have gotten from inflation destroyed annual increments.

Negotiation between employee and employer is not a bad thing, and nothing rewards the good employee more than than being able to say "I want X or I go". And nothing is worse for that than getting a few crumbs thrown your way every now and thinking that you are doing well.

None of that changes the original point though. Your belief that people should leave a company because they didn't proactively come and give you more money is just naïve.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120107273#Comment_120107273

You made a dumb comment about not getting unprompted offered pay rises when clearly there are obviously long established methods of doing exactly this.

The odds of retaining staff after they've gone to all the effort of interviewing to the point of getting a better job offer is slim to none. Not least because the company has set a precedent that every future negotiation will made as difficult and protracted as possible.

Also by that point the employer has made the employee fully committed to leaving. The hard part, deciding to leave and acting on it they are well past.

https://www.changerecruitmentgroup.com/knowledge-centre/why-you-should-and-should-not-accept-a-counteroffer

"...However, 80% of employees that accept a counteroffer leave within six months and 90% within a year. Proving that money isn’t always enough to overcome the problems that made you want to look for a new job in the first place..."

Once you threaten to leave then don't. You can only try that once. Your credibility is shot if you don't. So good luck with future negotiations. Both employer and employee are out of options after that.

Esho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106852#Comment_120106852

Really great advice thanks