Counter offer from current employer

[TheScarletPumpernickel]

I recently applied for a job with another organisation and was successful. They offered me a bump to my current package of C.15%. I didn't negotiate because this seemed fair and I was interested in the role itself.

I spoke to my current boss to hand my notice in and she seemed surprised and upset and immediately offered to match the new salary. I've told her I'll think about it.

My gut instinct is that if I've got this far, I probably need to put on my big girl pants and take the plunge for the new role. I've seen others accept counter offers over the years and they inevitably end up leaving within a few months anyway. Has anyone had a good experience of accepting a counter offer?

However, what I'm less sure about is do people use these counter offers to leverage more from their new employers? Or is that a big faux-pas which is going to result in the new job telling me to stick it/ getting labelled mercenary before I even begin?

I just don't know how the game is played (I've never negotiated my salary before) and don't want to leave money on the table, but equally don't want to behave completely inappropriately either. Grateful for any experiences and views from the mumsnet Brain Trust 😁

For further context:

1. This is for a large multinational rather than an SME I'm suggesting squeezing more money out of...
2. Without undue arrogance, I'm fairly confident the new employer is quite keen (I've been told I was the favourite candidate from the start and was offered the job within hours of interviewing)
3. This for a "mid senior" type role in a relatively niche sector

I haven't been in the situation myself, but you could test the waters by telling the new company the situation and telling them you need a little time to think about it? Might prompt them to counter offer without putting anyone's backs up?

Definitely leave. It is of course easier to stay, less scary to continue with what you know. I stayed for a counter offer and left 6 months later, although the counter offer also gave me a new job title to put on my CV. They tried to counter again the second time. I wasn't interested, I had peaked there, and it was the best thing I did to move.

As for using it as leverage for negotiation with the other company, not something I've done, as I was very happy with the salary I was getting, but if you do think there is more available, then you should go for it.

I think you want to take the new job. So take it! It’s obviously nice to stay in the safe and comfortable job you currently have, but I sense you are ready to go.

I'd be interested to know what men in your field would do.

I’m assuming you’ve been with your current employer for more than two years? If you leave, then you’ll lose the current employment protection you have. Only you know how much that is an issue to you, but with a recession on its way, it’s something to bear in mind.

If life has taught me anything it’s this: never take the counter offer.

Don’t do it. Take the new job!

So what your current employer is saying is ‘ we knew Scarlet was worth more/ could take more responsibility, but we were too tight / couldn’t be bothered to advance her career’. Too late.

Take the new job. If your employer thought you were worth more why didn't they offer it sooner. A high percentage of percentage of people who accept the counter offer will end up leaving by 6 months later anyway and you have to remember the reasons why you started applying for new jobs in the first place.

Hi everyone, just wanted to pop back and say thank you for your advice - I took the plunge and went with the new job. Thanks for giving me the push to make the decision I was erring towards.

Re: the leverage point, I spoke to my old manager and a friend who does a lot of recruitment, and their view was the time to negotiate is before an offer has been accepted and that it would make someone who tried to negotiate after accepting an offer look potentially "high maintenance". Which I suppose makes sense, but slightly frustrating when you know you weren't getting market rate in your current job and so lack some of the clout to argue for what you think you're worth in the new job. All the more reason to not give current salary when applying for a new job! Hope this is is helpful to anyone in the same position in the future.

Hi @TheScarletPumpernickel , just dropping by to say thanks for your thread because I'm in this situation, including something similar to the context you gave. My profession suddenly seems to be in demand - all my career, whenever I've resigned it's always been graciously accepted. Now my manager is leaping to pull together a counter offer and asking what they can do to make me stay.

Hope it's worked out for you! I'm leaning towards declining the counter offer because mentally I'm half out the door already and looking forward to the new company. The replies here are helping me clarify my thinking!

Hi @blueplantwindow ,

Congratulations on your new job offer!

I've only been in my new role a few weeks, so difficult to say if I'll enjoy it long term or not, but I think regardless of if I do enjoy this particular role or not, leaving my old company will have been the right decision for me. It will give me a wider view of my field of specialism, make me less "institutionalised", widen my network and keep me learning.

It's really flattering to receive a counter offer, but I was really wary when my boss was promising me all sorts of things to stay, including ownership of a big, juicy piece of work that was coming the team's way. However there was nothing to say that was really going to pass when push came to shove, so I think I would be sceptical of any promises that aren't contractual (pay, job title, extra holiday etc). It's all a bit like a bad boyfriend promising to change once you break up with them! Easy to say, difficult to do...

Good luck with whatever you decide 😊

Thank you! I'm glad you still feel it's the right decision for you.

Funny you should mention the breaking up with a boyfriend thing, that's just what it feels like - like they've suddenly realise they've been taking me for granted even though I've been expressing unhappiness for over a year. If they already knew I wasn't happy with my projects, that my current salary is below market rate, and I am over performing according to current grade and in need of a promotion, then why hasn't it happened already? I'm also slightly insulted that they won't take my resignation seriously - I know getting another offer in order to improve your position with a current employer is a valid strategy, but that is not what has happened here but they don't seem to believe me. Very frustrating.

The only mistake I think I've made so far is to accept the new company's offer already and then realise there is one point on which I should have negotiated a bit harder. Maybe having a counter-offer will allow me to re-open that conversation with the new company - I've not signed the contract yet. It's not a salary related issue so I'd hope there may be some leeway. They do appear to want me, they've even offered a signing on bonus which is a first for my career!

If I had my time over, I would definitely use my counteroffer to reopen the salary conversation. Lots of people in real life warned me against it, but I think I could have managed to increase the offer without any ill will because the hiring manager wouldn't have been my line manager, and the offer was comfortably within the salary range. I think I left another 10% on the table by not negotiating. Quite cross with myself! Lesson learned for next time, I suppose...

Only you will know if you think you can reopen the conversation without being penalised for it, but with hindsight I can't help but think what's the harm in asking 🤔

I have just come across this thread and unfortunately am posting too late, but I hope that others will read this and heed the warning. Counter offer jobs/roles should never be accepted and there are a lot of articles online about this, yet I had never heard of it until I had made the mistake of accepting one. Recruitment statistics show that only 5% of counter offer roles actually work and that within six months 80% of employees who accepted a counter offer role will have left, either having been pushed or having found another role.

I wanted to WFH but my employer had always said that everyone had to be in the office three days a week. I then was offered a new role with a much higher salary and full-time WFH. I phoned my manager to advise that I was going and that I would need a reference. She said to me 'what can we do to keep you, the work gets done?' I was then promptly offered a 10% increase, full-time WFH and told that although the job title would now have 'senior' in front of it I would essentially be doing the work I was doing before but for more money as the incentive to remain. I got it all confirmed in writing and a new job description was provided, the only addition being that in the light of my experience I could offer 'support to newer members of the team'. I accepted my employers' offer, having felt that I could have the safer option of doing my current role rather than going to a company I did not know and because the new company were not being overly clear about requirements over travel.

My manager then started saying the new role was managerial. She started using obscure clauses in the job description which are also present in the job description for the more junior role, to say that I should be attending management meetings and doing management work. I argued that this is not what was agreed and pushed back. She rescinded a little but not on all of the points. She now hates me. My colleagues also hate me for the promotion as they can see that I am not doing managerial work. There is nothing in the job title that suggests managerial work, but apparently in my company when 'senior' is put in front of words such as 'administrator' etc it becomes managerial.

These quickly cobbled-together counter-offer roles are not real roles and are not a natural fit in an organisation. Online articles warn employees to get everything in writing because employers rarely honour anything that is stated verbally. I got everything in writing including a job description but it means little. ACAS warned me that flexibility clauses in employment contracts allow employers to require tasks to be commensurate with a job title, rather than a job description. There is nothing in my job title that states 'manager' but nevertheless the whole environment is now toxic and I am frantically trying to get another job because I believe that it will not last, yet my confidence is being worn down.

Articles also warn that employers, having encouraged the employee to accept their counter-offer, then do not trust that employee because they knew that they intended to leave.

Do not accept a counter-offer job. Alternatively accept it, but be fully aware that you will need to start applying for other jobs very quickly. Few people seem to know about this, but people need to be warned.

Sorry you’re in this situation @TreeView and hope you can find a new job soon.

I’ve been in my new role for a few months and am very happy. In the end the old company’s counter offer couldn’t even match the new company’s salary so it was a no-brainer to leave.

On reflection, the bad relationship analogy still holds, and if an employer isn’t willing or able to address issues to the point someone wants to leave, then getting to the stage of offering a counter offer is far too late to fix anything.

blueplantwindow - I had a good relationship with my employer until the counter-offer, but I wanted to WFH full-time and the offer from the other company happened to be a lot more money.

The relationship with my current employer is now gowing downhill rapidly and I think part of it is that employers bitterly resent paying more money to prevent their asset leaving and the work not being done, when they would not have done this by choice. This is all despite them having instigated it in the first place.

I want more people to know about this as it is a serious issue. It took me two and a half years to get the new job offer as it was WFH and I am now seriously worried that my job is at risk. Everything was fine with my employer before this happened and I would almost go as far as to say that I was the best thing since sliced bread as I got the work done for them.

I understand - everything was fine with your employer while your working relationship was on their terms. But as soon as you indicated it wasn’t really working for you anymore and you were leaving, they reacted instinctively to keep you but are now unhappy. Sounds like they really didn’t work through the implications of the pay rise and “promotion” before offering them to you.

Efforts at employee retention should, imho, start the first day of the employees contract and be an ongoing thing. Too many companies are taking their employees for granted and not realising what a competitive job market it is in so many areas at the moment. I’m sure it won’t take another two and a half years to get another offer!

blueplantwindow - this is the case with all counter offer jobs, as the statistics show. 95% of employers operate the same way.

WFH jobs are not geographically limited and attract hundreds of applications, which is why it took so long to get an offer and this is worrying.

The information about counter-offer jobs needs to be in the mainstream as it is so serious. In many ways these jobs are akin to constructive dismissal.

I was counter offered and stayed, within 6 months I'd left. I would never accept another counter offer.

My boss has the attitude of people who have been counter offered and stayed, end up on his "shit list" and when restructures come along, are the top of his list to be put at risk.

HelpMeGetThrough - counter offers and counter-offer jobs seem to be little more than scams, because as your example shows, employers may well know what they are doing when they make the offer, as they will have done it to others.

You were unhappt enough to seek a different role

You need to decide if it was just the money you left for or something else

No Maddy70 - as I stated, I looked for another role as I wanted to WFH five days a week. The role I was offered hapened to be a lot more money.

Counter-offer roles are a serious issue and people need to be warned about them.

Maddy70 - the issue here is that when people are being offered counter offer roles or counter offers, they are being conned and it is not their fault.

Maddy70 - at least in my view people are being conned, but the statistics show that 80% of employees who accept a counter offer will have left within six months, feeling that they have been pushed out and recruiters advise that employers will rarely adhere to offers they have made.