More and more frequently, when employees resign, they provoke an attempt by their employer to buy them back through a promotion. How should you view a counter offer?

Faced with the possibility of losing an employee and the time, cost and trouble of recruiting a replacement, many companies may try to persuade a good employee to stay. They may offer incentives that include a promotion, additional benefits such as increased holiday, a change of reporting lines, working environment or working conditions, even a new job description. An employer might try any number of combinations but the reason they are doing it is to benefit them and not always you.

Indeed your first thought about a counter offer should be to view it negatively as if a company has been undervaluing you or under utilising you for a significant period of time. What kind of employer are they?

You should not forget that they know you are not committed to them long term and consequently will be unlikely to favour you over other internal candidates for promotion into key long-term roles. Counter offers are all about short-term problems. Furthermore, if you are known to have resigned and been brought back, this could encourage negative reactions from colleagues who are either resentful, or dismissive of your integrity. For these reasons, if a company could do something which would keep you, you should raise this with the appropriate people at the company before you start looking for another job, as using a job offer as a stick to get them to do something is likely to backfire.

Be wary of counter offers and never forget that you would not have resigned unless you had found another opportunity, which is both a good career move.

As a final word on counter offers, nearly 90% fail within 12 months. This is because although a company will often do anything possible to hang on to someone to avoid the hassle and cost involved with them leaving, or whilst they put in place contingency staffing plans, fundamentally nothing changes.

For more advice on what to do if your employer offers a counter proposal, get in touch with one of our team.