“I’m excited! I just got a counter offer! What should I do?” Jane asked. The general rule is: Never accept a counter offer from your employer, no matter how enticing it may be.
Before I explain why, let’s define a counter offer. A counter offer is your current employer’s attempt to lure you into staying with your current company by offering you more money than the new position is offering. In other words, you’ve just told him/her that you’re about to accept a job offer for a new position — with more money — with another company. If your current boss thanks you for your service and wishes you good luck in the new position, there’s no issue and you happily accept the new position. However, if the company wants to keep you, they may offer you more money than the offer and perhaps a promotion.
You may be tempted to accept a counter offer, but there are solid reasons not to do so:
- Because you’ve obviously been out looking, you’ve clearly indicated to your current employer that money is the most important thing to you.
- And you’ve also let them know that you have no allegiance to them.
- You might wonder why you weren’t worth more money to them until you were walking out the door.
You can see that there’s no longer much loyalty on either side. If turmoil or a downturn happens in business, your current company may well decide that you’re one of the first to be let go. And your chances of a promotion, or more challenging assignments, and raises are just about nil.
That’s why it’s really risky to accept a counter offer.
What are your thoughts? Let us know.
