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Comment by rando444 | Hacker News Reader

If the employee just wanted more money and feels they are worth it, then all they have to do is ask.

If the employee already starts looking for another job without even trying to get more money in his current position, there is no reason to try and convince him to stay.

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Many places if you ask for more money you'll get "sorry you're at the top of your range". "we can only give raises during performance review". Then when you turn in your 2 weeks suddenly it's "if it's money you're looking it's no problem to give you a very large out of band raise. Why didn't you say something?"

"If the employee just wanted more money and feels they are worth it, then all they have to do is ask."

No. The calculus is different. If it's a raise, it merely increases the cost of an employee. A counteroffer on the other hand counters several costs and risks. Hiring, training, loss of knowledge etc.

"If the employee already starts looking for another job without even trying to get more money in his current position"

Why do you presume that is the general case? I.e. does not ask for money or that they sought for another job.

Best talent tries to get compensation their worth. They probably ask for raises - but they are probably also sought by recruitment consultants. If a raise is not coming, and a consultant asks for what they would be willing to work for - well, it's simply not a case of trying to leave.

True dat. What's worse is that I've seen some companies have a strict HR policy of not allowing out-of-band raises unless a physical letter of resignation was received. So some folks would try to negotiate with their front-line managers only to get rebuffed unless they actually resigned. Then they would pour out the counteroffers. None would ever take it in that scenario.

In almost every job I've had I will approach for a raise with a list of my achievements, cost savings and recommendations. I will also indicate where I see my future impact and value specific to the business.

Most of the time I will get a standard small raise, if I take the same list out to the market and get an offer suddenly I qualify for higher raises. Overall businesses are not pro-active at all about retaining talent until push comes to shove.

A variety of workplaces have bureaucracy in place to require additional justification beyond manager and even manager + skip level approval.

Whatever your thoughts on the suitability of a workplace like this, know that the most time/effort efficient way to get a raise can legitimately be to show up with an offer which demonstrates a higher market value than current salary to justify an emergency retention pay adjustment

I've been told it's always good to have counter-offers to proof to your boss your worth X dollars to the industry.

OBVIOUSLY we're all talking about different corporate cultures and you have to play whatever strategy is best for your environment.

I don't know many cases where you would be given 30-50% raise, unless you were junior or intern. Though such raise is common when switching jobs in early-mid career.

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