Accepting a counter offer is one of the most asked career questions you’ll see. The problem with so many articles that are in Google are all written by recruiters who want to earn a commission from your move. The truth is, it is perfectly OK to accept a counter offer.
I remember when I got my first counter offer. I didn’t even know it was a thing until my boss gave me one to stay in literally 4 hours. The turnaround time was very impressive and so I took the counter offer and stayed with the company. The year after, they actually paid me 120% of my bonus.
Everything worked out just fine. At the time, the competing company tried to convince me not to take the offer. They pulled all sorts of tricks to put fear into my and convince me that it was a bad career move. Of course they would say that, it was in their best interest for me to move to the company.
On top of that, the third party recruiter told me that as well. Anything they could say in order to get me to say yes, they did say. They didn’t care what my career looked like, all they wanted was for me to work for them. It didn’t help when I go to Google and look up whether a counter offer is fine, almost every article tells me to take it.
It’s been years and now I finally realize why Google articles say those things. If you look closely to the Google’d articles, it’s primarily written by recruiting firms. They have a vested interest in you saying yes to the new company and will pull out all the stops. Don’t listen to them. Accepting a counter offer is perfectly fine.
What is a Counter Offer?
A counter offer is an offer made by your company that counters the competing company in order to entice you to stay. Sometimes, the counter offers actually beat the competing company’s offers. By a wide margin. Then you can have a bidding war going on.
They are done by companies who know they are underpaying you but are happy to because your options are limited. Where are you going to go? They’re banking on you not getting another offer and staying put where you are. I’ve received one and I didn’t even know it was a possibility until I told them I was leaving.
Then once they give a counter, you can bring that offer to the new company and see if they’ll raise their offer. Your pay is just a whole big game in order to get paid the most amount of money possible. You have to learn how to play the game, otherwise companies will take advantage of you.
Companies will happily take advantage of you if you let them. Therefore, make sure to pit companies against each other. Of course, a job isn’t always about the money. I had coworkers who left for a 50%+ pay increase only to regret it six months after. However, that doesn’t mean money isn’t meaningless.
Bid companies against each other so that they know you’re a quality and valuable employee to keep around. You don’t want to give so much for so little in return. You need to get compensated and paid fairly for your work. That can start with accepting a counter offer.
The Biggest Lie About Accepting a Counter Offer
Every article you see on Google WILL try to pit your fear for their own benefit. They want you to be afraid that it will ruin the relationship that you already have with your employer. That by accepting a counter offer, you are solely at the company’s mercy.
That they will use every opportunity to let you go without a second thought. You will be the first to be let go if the company decides to do layoffs. No that’s not the case. It doesn’t work like that. There are companies who are vindictive and will do something like that.
However, the majority of the time, that’s not the case. It’s recruiters using your fear in order to get paid a commission. I’m one of the few who has no vested interest in your career move. I don’t get paid a commission if you move jobs or not. That’s the difference.
Therefore, when I say that accepting a counter offer is perfectly fine, it’s not because I want to earn a commission. It’s because I care about the long term career of employees. Don’t be emotionally manipulated by these companies. They are very good at convincing you and manipulating you to do what they want.
This is the game that you don’t want to play against because they’re already so seasoned at playing it. Therefore, do some research beforehand and then make your decision. Be soft but firm. Don’t let them manipulate you into thinking accepting a counter offer is the end of the world.
Why Accept a Counter Offer
The first reason why you should accept a counter offer is that you can.. COUNTER that social share button and share to your favorite social media! Your friends could be in the same position and let’s rid the world of the garbage message that recruiters offer candidates.
So with that said, let’s go into the concrete reasons why you should accept them.
1) Accepting a Counter Offer Means You Keep Your Relationships Intact
My boss was the happiest as can be when I told her I was accepting a counter offer. She was smiling and really happy that I decided to stay. When you say you’re going to accept a counter offer, it may actually mean that your relationship grows stronger because they really want you to stay.
Companies don’t throw money around like nothing. If they really want you, they’ll make amends and do things to make you stay. I turned in my two weeks at around the same time as my coworker. When he said he was leaving, my boss just easily let him go without giving it a minute’s thought.
Going forward, my relationships with my boss actually grew stronger. I wasn’t treated any more differently. They didn’t give me any more work and try to bury me in work. It was business as usual. Although I left less than a year later, that had nothing to do with the relationship that I had with the boss who gave ma a counter.
2) You’re Familiar with the Company Processes
When you go to a new company, you have to learn all of the processes, meet new people, and the like. Therefore, you should require a premium when you go to a new company. When they don’t offer you a premium, then there’s a disconnect. With your current company, you already know all of the culture.
The training and the learning curve that you didn’t have to learn if you didn’t accept the offer is significant. That’s why accepting a counter offer is fine because you’re already familiar and you have no need to “reprove” yourself. Your coworkers are already familiar with your work.
Re-learning the company’s processes is a risk for you. If you’re not going to be compensated for that, then it’s not in your best interest to jump ship. New and exciting always comes with risk. Unless you cannot stand your coworkers and your boss, then that’s a completely different story.
3) It’s More Money for the Same Work
You just got a counter offer from your current company. That means that you’re getting paid more to do the exact same work. What’s wrong with that?! That’s what happened for me. I got paid more and my work didn’t change. That’s why it was fine for me to accept a counter offer.
Where as, in the new company, it may be more money than what you were making before, but the work could be drastically different. Companies will try to sell you the world during the interview process. Only to pull the rug from underneath you at the last second.
If the only difference between before and now is to get paid more while your work doesn’t change, then that doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me. Make sure to have a heart to heart before you accept though. I ensured that this was the case before I took the counter offer.
4) Your Company Values You More
Now, your company knows that they need to pay you fairly or you’ll leave. If they just gave you a counter offer to fire you later, that doesn’t make sense. They’d be losing out on double the money because hiring a new replacement is expensive. Accepting a counter offer means the company values you more.
When my next bonus cycle came along, they were supposed to pay me $35k. They ended up paying me $40k. Companies know who they need to compensate or who they think they should value unless the employee will start looking somewhere else and sniffing around elsewhere.
They kept you for a reason. They value you enough to give you more money to stay. Now they’ll value you even more. Turnover costs are expensive for companies, and more so these days when employees have more leverage than ever. They’re feeling those effects.
Why Decline a Counter Offer
Of course, just with everything, there are exceptions to the rule. It doesn’t mean when you get a counter offer, you should ALWAYS accept it. There are points of consideration you have to make before accepting it. Some places truly are not the right fit and conducive to a counter offer.
1) Your Boss Expects More From You
Make sure to have this conversation before accepting a counter offer. I made sure to ask my boss if she’s going to see me in a different light and/or going to give me a heavier workload. She said no. Told me I did what I had to do. So then I knew that it wasn’t that bad of a decision.
More money might mean that the company could ask more of you. They could make your life to the point of unbearableness, just because of how spiteful that is. Be careful, it very well just could be a trap so that they could make your life miserable down the road.
Have the conversation with your boss. Ask her if they’re going to expect more from you. And if no, if they could talk to the other bosses you may have that that should be the expectation going forward. It’s not as simple as saying yes or no, there are always complications and politics at play.
2) Your Employer Resents You
Some companies WILL absolutely resent you for even thinking about leaving. They think you duped them out of paying more money. This concern should be communicated to your boss. However, don’t take their words at face value. No matter what they say, it will require some judgement call on your behalf.
You will have to gauge how your boss is and what their attitude is. If they’re naturally a vindictive person or if they’re the kind of person who’ll let things go. Resentment is absolutely real where I’ve met higher ups who would absolutely bad mouth prior employees.
This is your career that you’re talking about. And people have a tendency to take things personally. Especially if you are someone who they want to stay. They will absolutely take their anger out on your instead of taking it out on themselves for not paying you the right amount in the first place.
3) The Competing Company Raises Their Offer
The case may arise where you tell the new company about your offer and they actually raise their offer. It does happen. Then it gets you thinking that you should’ve asked for more in the first place. However, they may increase the offer at their own election. That’s what happened with me.
They raised my base salary offer by an additional $10,000 per year. However, I still ended up accepting the counter offer from my current company. The way the competing company presented the offer is almost to the point of coercion. I don’t like being coerced I like making my decisions the way that I want to.
In other case, the competing company might actually raise the offer and you are left to decide between the two. Take into account every compensation, not just the pay. The coworkers, bosses, and everything else matters in making your decision. A career decision is a huge choice, don’t waste it.
4) The New Company is All Around Better
Accepting a counter offer isn’t a good idea if the new company is just your dream company and job. Not only in terms of the right price that they’re offering but the work you’re doing is interesting to you. It’s your passion. It could also be that they offer phenomenal benefits that are unheard of.
Or it could just be a cause that you have a personal vested interest in. Whatever the case is, the new company just could be all around better. Then it doesn’t make sense to accept the counter offer. There are times in your career where you don’t work for the money.
You work because you want to and out of personal interest. When you get onto that point, you stop worrying about your career and getting up next in the ladder. Then you can make a decision based on the qualitative factors instead of the quantitative factors like how much your salary is.
Accepting a Counter Offer is Completely Fine
Don’t let other people get you afraid. Accepting a counter offer is fine. I’ve done it, my former boss did it, and millions of employees are doing it. My former boss actually did it twice in her 15 years career. Her boss still gave her opportunities that he wouldn’t have to other people.
There truly are companies who care but they mostly know that that’s how the game is played. They understand that the employees power is only as good as what the market is willing to pay them. They know the game is to get employees to say I am fed up so they’ll get a counter offer.
It’s fine to stay at the job you like for more money. Don’t let other people and these recruiters tell you otherwise. You have to ask yourself why they’re telling you such things. They have a vested interest in you moving because their livelihood depends on it.
When a person’s livelihood depends on you not accepting a counter offer, they will lie and attempt to manipulate you in more ways than one in order to get you to do what they want you to do. Don’t let them. I have no vested interest in your career. All I want to do is help others progress their financial lives.
Employees are losing power every single year while companies are gaining ground. it’s time to start changing that one article at a time. I want to make you richer and better off financially than before you read my articles. Take it from me who’s making strides $100,000 at a time.
