Late last month I was working with a candidate who I had helped secure a new job. This individual was really excited about his new company and was going to be starting in a week. Five days before he was about to start his old boss called him into his office and offered him a significant raise, a change in duties and a new job title. They pleaded with him to stay, promising that there will be big changes and that they couldn’t bear to lose him. After careful consideration he accepted the counter and informed his new employer that he would not be joining them after all.
As a recruiter in the trenches I see this situation everyday and shudder whenever a company makes a counter offer. I do my best to prepare candidates for these and let them know that they typically work out in the long term about 25% of the time. Still they happen all of the time and candidates accept them with regularity. When this happens I will question their reasoning and make them aware of why counters don’t typically work out. However, I usually bite my tongue and avoid telling them how I really feel about counters – at that point they are not in a position to hear what I’m saying. Ultimately I end up congratulating them on their promotion and tell them to keep in touch. Full disclosure – What I want to say is “Why are you being so stupid? This has a low probability of working out and you will be screwed!”
Back to the story from above. After my candidate accepted the counter, I sent him an email congratulating him on his new position. Three weeks later he responded to this email asking to talk. The same boss that called him in and talked him out of leaving had called him back into his office on Monday. He was really sorry. The company didn’t have the funds to come through on their promise. Nothing was going to change – but he was still valued as an employee…. Let that sink in. What an A@#$# - That company not only broke a promise but they prevented him from bettering his situation. The worst part – his potential new company just hired someone to replace him the week before. He is now at square one in a job he hates even more than before and less options.
Let me tell you something. This is the norm! I’m sure that some of you will email me and tell you about all of the times you accepted a counter and it worked out. That’s great – you are nothing but lucky! I can even tell you a story of one of my other candidates that accepted a counter and ended up winning a major award. Just remember that for every one of these that does work out to the positive there are four times as many that leave a trail of broken dreams, broken promises and ugly exits. They just don’t work.
So… Why don’t counter offers work? Below are the five reasons I don’t think that they work out:
1. The Company is Just Buying Time
Of all reasons this is quite possibly the most wicked. Sometimes companies make a counter offer and have no intention of following through. Essentially they make the offer out of spite because they are angry that someone is leaving or so they can get their ducks in a row and not have their business interrupted by you leaving. Either way it is cold hearted and inconsiderate. This probably has something to do with why you are trying to leave in the first place.
2. Money Doesn’t Solve All Problems
Blah, blah, blah. Money doesn’t buy happiness. Mo Money Mo
3. The Feeling of Trust is Irreparably Broken
This is one of the biggest reasons that things eventually fall apart. Even though they won’t say it a company will never forget that you tried to quit. Never. When you make a mistake they will maybe be less forgiving. When you decide to dress a little nicer for work – just because – they will wonder if you have an interview scheduled over your lunch. Eventually this will damage the relationship enough that one of you decides to move on.
4. People (Specifically Managers) Can’t Change – Same with Culture
All of you people out there that are married (or were married) should appreciate this. My wife is fond of telling me when we fight, “You know who you married!” What she means by this is that there are certain core personality traits that can’t be changed about a person and by marrying that person you need to accept them and lose your right to get mad about them. The same goes for companies and managers. I don’t care how valuable of an employee you are. Your resignation is not the epiphany that is going to stop your boss from being an a@#$#$! These types of personality changes typically only occur in Dickens novels after a visit by three spirits on Christmas or after a severe brain injury. A company might be sincere in wanting you to stay but you need to be realistic, try as they may companies and managers can’t make radical changes about who they are. If that is why you are leaving then you should just go.
5. Job Searches Open Up Wounds that Don’t Heal
Do you remember how it feels to have a mosquito bite? It starts as a small itch – but the more that you itch it the worse it gets. Eventually it gets big and red and it really hurts. This is what a job search does to all of the little gripes you have about your current employer. However, unlike a mosquito bite – it doesn’t completely go away when you take a counter offer. All of those gripes that you thought of sit in the back of your head and weigh you down. The problem is that you rarely are able to put the genie back in the bottle and it just stays with you. Eventually you will get fed up and decide to look again.
So! That’s my thoughts on counter offers. What do you think? Do you have any horror stories to share about them? Feel free to leave comments or email me directly at sthompson@insurance-csg.com.
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