When You Get a Job Counteroffer: Should You Stay or Should You Go?
blog.smartbear.com
blog.smartbear.com
When a friend of mine (also at Microsoft) told his boss that he had a job offer from Google, but wasn't explicit about whether he had accepted it yet, they bent over backwards to try and persuade him to stay — offering, among other things, the promotion that he'd been passed over for in the previous two review cycles (so much for no promotion budget), pulling in upper management to spend time with him to persuade him to stay. All this just served to communicate to him how messed up his situation had been, if they can promote you now, why couldn't they before?
As long as you have been clear with your management about your expectations w.r.t. pay/promotion/work etc. then any counteroffer is simply an open display of organizational misanthropy.
w.r.t. Microsoft, one of the unspoken flaws in their review system is/was that by the time a review is delivered to an employee, it is too late to fix anything. If you think you deserved a promotion/bigger bonus/merit increase/whatever it has to wait until the next review cycle (a year) to be corrected (unless your manager is really prepared to fight hard for you and do things out of cycle—possible but hard)
Ha! I like that.
When you even start to consider another opportunity, think about why you actually want to move to the new opportunity. Is it that you need more money? Is it that you want to work on a different kind of project? Is it that you need more stimulation?
Then go to your employer, and without bringing up the other opportunity, see if they are willing to make the change that you want. Don't be angry that they haven't already done it for you, until this point you didn't even necessarily know you wanted it, you can't expect them to.
If they accept, then you are in an environment where you're happy, and your employer is probably happy that you are motivated and taking steps to make things happen. If they reject your offer, then pursue the better opportunity.
In that case, if they do give you a counter-offer, it's either going to be less than you need, which makes it easy enough to say no to. Or they will be offering you the same thing you've already asked for and declined to provide, which means they are doing it out of desperation and you can expect they will to an extent resent it if they feel it's something they can't afford, or they will have been actively trying to take advantage of you by denying you fair treatment when you asked for it directly.
I think first decide what it is you need, then give your employer the opportunity to provide what it is you need of their own accord, then accept an offer with another employer who can provide what it is you need. Then you don't have to worry about the counter-offer. You've already gone through it once on your terms.
If you don't make your employer aware that you want a change prior to your resignation, and they would have been willing to offer it to you all along if they knew, you're both in an awkward position. If the counter offer is exactly what you want and you take it, there will be some soreness and a passive-aggressive attitude that will persist. If you ask for what you want and get it prior to saying "Or else I quit" it's much smoother sailing for everyone.
The company has already lost when the employee is contemplating whether they should go look for a new job. Any outcome of this, whether the employee moves around in the company, leaves the company, takes a counter offer is all in the too little too late camp.
That's why a good manager and a good company needs to actively invest effort in making sure their employees are happy and productive. How does the saying go, people don't leave companies, they leave their bosses...
EDIT: It also depends on the company. In a large company like Microsoft you can make moves that are almost like moving to a different company and have advantages (seniority) over changing companies. My experience is those companies have a better chance of retaining employees because of that advantage as long as they make those moves reasonably easy.
From the point of view of an employee, I disagree. If you are contemplating looking for a new job, then you are unhappy. If you are unhappy with your job, you should at least try talking to your manager. Either:
A: They want to keep you and are reasonable and capable of making the adjustments you desire
B: They don't want to keep you
C: They aren't reasonable
D: They are not capable of making the adjustments you desire
In the event of B they don't want you to be working there any more, so look for a better job. In the event of C or D, you probably don't want to be working there anymore, so look for a better job.
That makes it really easy to reject a potential counter-offer; if they won't give you what you need without you threatening to leave, you probably don't want to work there.
You owe it to yourself and to your employer to be honest with them. If you think you deserve more money, a new manager, a better project, etc. then ask. You shouldn't say you'll leave if you don't get it. You just lay out your reasons and make a simple request.
Also, it's important to start these conversations early. If you want more money and are ready to quit within 1 month if you don't get it, you are asking too late. If you can't stand working for your manager for 1 more day and you haven't told anyone, you're too late.
When you start having these wants, it's important to bring them up. "I'd like to be on track to be promoted within 1 year, how can I do this?" Stay on top of this subject with your manager. If you have problems with your manager, amicably let him know how you two could work better together. Make a few efforts at it. If it doesn't work then you let a higher-up(s) know and leave it to them.
If you're proactive early about what you want from your job then you'll either get what you want or save time finding out that you won't get it. It will also lead to a very easy decision to stay/leave a job.
In general, taking your manager or company by surprise -- for good or bad -- is never a great strategy. If you're angling for a raise or a promotion, make your intentions known well in advance. Don't assume your boss can read your mind. Have a plan, get input from your manager, follow up on it, and show progress. Don't expect something to happen overnight, even if your boss wants to make it happen. He or she might have several layers of red tape to work through, or might be unable to give spot promotions and raises outside of a given cycle. (This is especially true at large companies, whose managers have less discretionary power than commonly believed.)
Protip: rather than asking for a raise at an arbitrary number, try to find out the pay-band structure at your company. Know what the bands are, where you fall within them, and accordingly, how much room you've got to negotiate within reason. This information isn't always public knowledge, but chances are, somebody at your company has it. Reducing information asymmetry is key to a successful negotiation.
First of all, you have to make an educated guess what demands would be acceptable based on how the company presents ifself to you. If you ask for things that are normally considered unacceptable you are just exposing yourself as a person who is unsatisfied with his position and there is huge risk of being denied any further development with this company or even fired.
For example, it might be reasonable to ask for 20-30% raise maximum. But if you have to ask for 200-300% salary raise, in a company that just told you budget is tight and there is not even enough money for legal fees to award shares, then save your breath. Such an extreme case is quite rare, but I've seen it happen.
Most cases wouldn't be as bad, but you have to ask yourself if your demands have a good chance to be accepted before confronting the company, otherwise make sure you have an offer on the table. Nobody is paying you for the risks of asking too many questions.
If the counteroffer is amazing, it will poison your relationships with everybody in the company: colleagues will resent you for getting what they will see as a golden ticket when they didn't, and managers will resent you for what they will interpret as mercenary tendencies -- i.e. you're just waiting for someone to come along with an even better offer before you sell them out. So you'll have to work with a bunch of people whose opinion of you has just dropped through the floor.
And if the counteroffer isn't amazing, why would you consider taking it in the first place?
In fact keeping the amount secret can actually make problems worse, by encouraging people to use their imagination to answer the question; then you end up with a situation where you actually got an extra $5K/year, but everyone you work with thinks you got an oil tanker full of Spanish doubloons and a stable full of ponies.
Wot? His company gave him a counteroffer with the attitude that accepting their offer would be unethical?
The problem with this is that the people making the counteroffer often feel they are doing so, effectively, at gunpoint: give me a bag of cash right now, or lose a key cog in your machine. "Nice company you've got there. Sure would be a shame if something were to... happen to it." So they are often made grudgingly, which leads to bad feelings. And if they are accepted the bad feelings go deeper, because now the people making the counteroffer feel like you put one over on them. So paradoxically, taking their counteroffer can hurt your relationships with those people pretty deeply, while rejecting it can keep them stable or even improve them -- when you walk away, they can interpret it as you choosing not to put one over on them.
None of this makes any logical sense, of course, but we're talking here about emotional decisionmaking, which has very little to do with logic.
Perhaps it would make more sense if it said "because he hadn’t played games and hadn't acted unethically"
There is no such thing as "unethical." There is always an ethic involved unless the person is acting completely without reason and randomly, such as when they are insane (and even then there is probably still some kind of reason in their mind). In this way, a person conducting themselves in an "unethical" way is likely on the verge of death or incarceration.
If it's a small organization - stay if you actually like it.
The difference is that small organizations understand people, the risks, the sacrifices, etc, because they're still human. Large organizations only care about their bottom line. They will hire your replacement, probably a junior level person, train him up, replace you, and then do the same thing to him years later when he realizes he hates it for the same reason you do.
Besides, life is about growing and doing new things. Not the same shit forever for a 2.5% raise (if you even get that)
Most of our jobs don't mean shit. It doesn't matter.
Any way you slice it, you've shown your hand: you're out the door. A company where it takes a resignation letter to spur them on to pay attention to you is not the right place for you.
"Yeah! Always. How do either of us know what my market value is if I don't? It's only fair."
I thought that was brilliant. No he was never fired and he stayed there quite some time after that. :)
Perhaps the counteroffer is a guise as they hire somebody to replace you, then you'll be let go as soon as they hire somebody.
The relationship can never be as "warm and fuzzy" as before you tried to quit.
Two people are dating, one is an alcoholic. The other says, "I'm leaving, we've talked about your drinking 100 times and nothing changes so I'm leaving you. Bye." The drunk says, "oh no, stay with me and I'll stop drinking!"
Does that situation ever turn out well?
A person with a solid job that isn't on the chopping block (presumed because of the presence of a counteroffer) isn't job-shopping for a 10% bump.
Not so fast. I, for example never changed jobs for any other reason.
Of course, I never got only a 10% bump, but well, we do need money, and we should try to get more of it with time.
I would say never accept a counter offer. If you decided to leave there must be other things that bother you besides money.
Those reasons aren't going to change. So if you accept more money you would be happier for about 6 months and then reality will settle in... and would still be unhappy and planning to leave anyway.
Even if you are happy with your current job and the only reason to leave is to have a pay increase, when you receive a counter offer with more money you shouldn't stay either. Because a raise by means of counter offer, means that salary at your current employer aren't fair and are based just on negotiation skills alone.
You have ongoing relationships with people, including your managers and co-workers - don't burn those. But your "relationship" with your employer [company], at least in Silicon Valley, is transactional.
After working almost seven years, I went on an interview that an acquaintance told me about. The interview went very well, and shortly after I left the office, they called and offered me a job. I told them I'd need a few days to think about it.
I went into work the next day and told them, then tried to see if I could get a counteroffer from them. It wouldn't have taken much for me to stay; I was working in town and the new job would be a commute. If they could have matched half of what the new offer was, I would have stayed.
But it was no dice. I took the job.
And you know what? It ended up being the best choice I could have made. The acquaintance who worked there and told me about the job I know call "friend." I moved from a solo environment to a team. My skills have improved, the pay improved, and even the commute has turned out to be a blessing thanks to audiobooks and podcasts.
Just something to think about. Honestly, I think if you think it's time to leave, you should just go. It's time. Don't fight it.
In the end, I'm glad I turned down the counteroffer and got out - I do think that my relationships would have been poisoned if I had stayed, and some core issues would not have been fixed. That said - I should not have taken the job I did. Chasing money was a rookie move, and I'm now more unhappy than I was at the previous company.
My advice is to think very realistically, perhaps pessimistically, about what life will be like at the new company. If you're not sure, ask questions. Don't take a new job because you want to get out - take a new job because you want out AND because the new job is freaking amazing. I'm now job hunting all over again, and it sucks.
I worked at a place where they counter-offered two above average (but not great) developers who were working on an important client project. The two accepted the counter-offers, but still left for good in a few months. Everyone else in the office that wanted a raise or promotion now knew what they had to do to get raises: find another job and bluff. It put a big dent in the company culture.
In this case it sounds like a problem with the company not giving promotions / raises until it's too late.
I think companies and managers must always look introspectively and see what they are doing wrong that is causing people to leave, and how they can improve the situation.
Often times, drastic changes might be necessary to the structure / day-to-day operations of a team if too many people in one department are leaving.
Basically, if an employee asks for a raise, that is when a good manager is going to decide whether to retain them or not. Because if you say no to an employee's request for a raise, but then make a counteroffer when they actually have another offer in hand, it is already too late. That is what bad managers do.
As a manager, the second you say "no" to a raise, you need to start to prepare yourself for the probable outcome that that employee will go and get a higher offer, and quit.
Most people don't ask for raises lightly, it is an act that requires a bit of courage. Chances are, if an employee works up the courage to ask you for a raise, it is because they really need it, and they are giving you a chance to retain them, before they start looking around.
Limbo wasn't fun, so I was happy to get a +20% offer from a another company. However I ended up accepting the counter offer when I was certain that it was too late to offer me anything to stay. I got a honest (I hope) personal apology from my managers manager, the department head, who said that he had been the one deciding not to promote me, and that he now understands that he was not clearly communicating his expectations to my manager.
That was a bit over a year ago and while it might sound that the situation was beyond repair, I'm actually happy I ended up staying. It actually changed my managers manager behaviour to take a much more visible role in many other areas and start communicating more directly to us instead of just the layer in between.
If you love working at the current place, you have a great relationship with your boss/team and your only issue is money, then a good counter-offer may not be a bad idea. In fact, many times it is the only way to get a raise unfortunately. Consider the alternative. You might be making ok money but you don't like your team/boss/company at all, then do not take the counter offer even if they offer you more. You never know how it will turn out later on.
Companies should be proactive about keeping their employees engaged, challenged, and relatively happy.
Whatever you do, keep the connections you've made--don't burn bridges. The new opportunity may not be all it's cracked up to be, and it will be nice to have some people to call when you're on the hunt again.
Just go, it's a part of life, like taking a shit.
Your example is not relevant - you can treat yourself as a commodity even with a single offer. Actually, even without any offer at all.