News
Labor/Employment
Aug. 2, 2002
Don't Be Persuaded to Stay After You Decide to Leave
Employment Column - By Craig A. Blumin - My sister-in-law just received an attractive offer for a job with a new employer. After thinking it over carefully, she accepted the offer. When she went to give notice to her current employer, they were surprised. Her boss told her he didn't want to lose her and made her a counteroffer. She was quite flattered.
Employment Column
By Craig A. Blumin
My sister-in-law just received an attractive offer for a job with a new employer. After thinking it over carefully, she accepted the offer. When she went to give notice to her current employer, they were surprised. Her boss told her he didn't want to lose her and made her a counteroffer. She was quite flattered.
Receiving a counteroffer is very gratifying and tempting. It almost always comes with a speech about how highly valued you are. It also may try to place some guilt on you about leaving. The actual counteroffer itself may include increased compensation, a revised title, and a promise to change the way some things are done. This kind of flattery can be hard to resist.
Counteroffers can be appealing for other reasons, too. Staying at a familiar place in a known capacity is comfortable. Changing jobs, even when you have initiated the change, is usually stressful. While counteroffers are enticing, keep in mind that employers make counteroffers solely because it is in their best interests to do so.
When you quit, it can negatively affect both your boss and your company. It takes a long time to find, hire and bring up to speed a suitable replacement. During this time, work can pile up. Projects can be delayed. Other members of your team probably will have to assume some of your old responsibilities. Regardless of workload, your departure can affect the morale among those remaining. Additionally, managers usually are evaluated, at least in part, on their ability to develop and retain talent. Your boss could be concerned that your departure will reflect negatively on him or her.
Accepting a counteroffer is almost always a bad idea. Employers generally make them to allay their own short-term needs or concerns. None of these reasons means, however, that staying would be in your best interest. Your best interests probably didn't factor into the firm's equation.
Accepting the counteroffer and staying at your old firm can have many negative ramifications. Once you have declared your intention to leave, it will be difficult for the partners and others to see you as a loyal employee. If the counteroffer involved simply more money, you may be seen as someone who can be bought. You likely will be considered a flight risk. At that point, it can become difficult for the firm or company to consider you in its long-range planning. Since many of your employer's concerns when you leave focus on dealing with the short-term ramifications of your departure, the purpose of a counteroffer often is simply to keep you around until a suitable replacement can be found.
Regardless of the existence of such nefarious motives, statistically between 60 percent and 90 percent of those who accept counteroffers leave their employers within one year. Some are let go, and some leave on their own. This means that there is only a 10 percent to 40 percent chance that a counteroffer will work out.
For most people, a decision to change jobs is not made lightly. A great deal of time and energy goes into researching the right opportunities, interviewing, and considering and accepting a job offer. The objective decision that your new position is a better opportunity than your current position does not change with a counteroffer.
Those who decide to stay to take advantage of particular elements in the counteroffer usually are disappointed. For example, in many cases a counteroffer includes a promise to change the way some things are done within your current firm. Such promises should be viewed skeptically. Employers usually do not change the way they operate for the sake of a single employee, even an important one. The issues that caused you to consider moving in the first place are not likely to disappear forever.
Accepting a counteroffer also can damage your reputation. Conducting a search to fill a position and bringing a new person on board is a major expense for an employer. When a firm or company engages in such an effort, it has a real need to fill. Once you accept an offer, your future employer stops interviewing other candidates and begins to make plans around your arrival. When you renege on your acceptance, it can cause real problems for the company. It likely will not forget or forgive your behavior. You will have harmed your reputation and probably will have lost the opportunity ever to work at that employer.
The best employers do not make counteroffers. They pay competitive salaries, work to keep their employees challenged and let their employees know they are appreciated. In other words, they do their best to create an environment in which people want to stay. When an employee announces his or her intention to leave, they wish that person well and move forward.
Still, counteroffers can be extremely alluring. When you receive one, you may even feel some guilt about leaving, whether induced by your employer or arising from your own feelings. Before you accept a counteroffer, look past the flattery, and let go of any guilt you may feel. Think long and hard about your own long-term best interests. Will they really be served by accepting that counteroffer? In almost every case, you will conclude that it is not in your best interest to accept that counteroffer.
Craig A. Blumin is the recruitment manager for Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe in San Francisco.
By Craig A. Blumin
My sister-in-law just received an attractive offer for a job with a new employer. After thinking it over carefully, she accepted the offer. When she went to give notice to her current employer, they were surprised. Her boss told her he didn't want to lose her and made her a counteroffer. She was quite flattered.
Receiving a counteroffer is very gratifying and tempting. It almost always comes with a speech about how highly valued you are. It also may try to place some guilt on you about leaving. The actual counteroffer itself may include increased compensation, a revised title, and a promise to change the way some things are done. This kind of flattery can be hard to resist.
Counteroffers can be appealing for other reasons, too. Staying at a familiar place in a known capacity is comfortable. Changing jobs, even when you have initiated the change, is usually stressful. While counteroffers are enticing, keep in mind that employers make counteroffers solely because it is in their best interests to do so.
When you quit, it can negatively affect both your boss and your company. It takes a long time to find, hire and bring up to speed a suitable replacement. During this time, work can pile up. Projects can be delayed. Other members of your team probably will have to assume some of your old responsibilities. Regardless of workload, your departure can affect the morale among those remaining. Additionally, managers usually are evaluated, at least in part, on their ability to develop and retain talent. Your boss could be concerned that your departure will reflect negatively on him or her.
Accepting a counteroffer is almost always a bad idea. Employers generally make them to allay their own short-term needs or concerns. None of these reasons means, however, that staying would be in your best interest. Your best interests probably didn't factor into the firm's equation.
Accepting the counteroffer and staying at your old firm can have many negative ramifications. Once you have declared your intention to leave, it will be difficult for the partners and others to see you as a loyal employee. If the counteroffer involved simply more money, you may be seen as someone who can be bought. You likely will be considered a flight risk. At that point, it can become difficult for the firm or company to consider you in its long-range planning. Since many of your employer's concerns when you leave focus on dealing with the short-term ramifications of your departure, the purpose of a counteroffer often is simply to keep you around until a suitable replacement can be found.
Regardless of the existence of such nefarious motives, statistically between 60 percent and 90 percent of those who accept counteroffers leave their employers within one year. Some are let go, and some leave on their own. This means that there is only a 10 percent to 40 percent chance that a counteroffer will work out.
For most people, a decision to change jobs is not made lightly. A great deal of time and energy goes into researching the right opportunities, interviewing, and considering and accepting a job offer. The objective decision that your new position is a better opportunity than your current position does not change with a counteroffer.
Those who decide to stay to take advantage of particular elements in the counteroffer usually are disappointed. For example, in many cases a counteroffer includes a promise to change the way some things are done within your current firm. Such promises should be viewed skeptically. Employers usually do not change the way they operate for the sake of a single employee, even an important one. The issues that caused you to consider moving in the first place are not likely to disappear forever.
Accepting a counteroffer also can damage your reputation. Conducting a search to fill a position and bringing a new person on board is a major expense for an employer. When a firm or company engages in such an effort, it has a real need to fill. Once you accept an offer, your future employer stops interviewing other candidates and begins to make plans around your arrival. When you renege on your acceptance, it can cause real problems for the company. It likely will not forget or forgive your behavior. You will have harmed your reputation and probably will have lost the opportunity ever to work at that employer.
The best employers do not make counteroffers. They pay competitive salaries, work to keep their employees challenged and let their employees know they are appreciated. In other words, they do their best to create an environment in which people want to stay. When an employee announces his or her intention to leave, they wish that person well and move forward.
Still, counteroffers can be extremely alluring. When you receive one, you may even feel some guilt about leaving, whether induced by your employer or arising from your own feelings. Before you accept a counteroffer, look past the flattery, and let go of any guilt you may feel. Think long and hard about your own long-term best interests. Will they really be served by accepting that counteroffer? In almost every case, you will conclude that it is not in your best interest to accept that counteroffer.
Craig A. Blumin is the recruitment manager for Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe in San Francisco.
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