Leaving go: why you should not take kontroffer

Hello, Habr! My name is Zhenya Ostroumova, and I am a recruiter. Today we’ll talk with you about counteroffers.

From the translator: “My friends regularly consult me as a“ tyrkrekrutёrka ”. Some of these dialogs are similar to each other like two drops of water and look something like this:
– Eugene, help? I dont know. I have a cool offer from an interesting company for me. They are cool, they have a cool project, everything is from scratch, the stack is awesome! And people, people what!
– So. But?
“But I came to my boss with a statement and after 1.5 hours of conversation I left the office with an increase, with the prospect of developing my own project within the company … but without a signed letter of resignation.”
– Oh-ho-ho. And what is the mental torment?
– Well, damn it! DIFFICULT! Cool, of course, the offer was made to me by both. But on the other hand – and here, it turns out, they value and love me. Zhen, how am I better off now for those other dudes?
– (Eugene rolls her eyes).
Cases that happen to my friends at their current job are called “Retention.” And the suggestions of the bosses about the increase and some other goodies there are counteroffers.
Contoffers, dear Habr, a controversial thing and in most cases not the best. And to be more convincing, I translated an article by an intelligent person on this topic. Because my friends are not the first and not the last who are engaged in dubious manipulations of their superiors. ”

More and more companies are thinking about different tools for retaining employees, because it is cheaper than finding new ones. Finding and hiring strong employees is long and expensive. Cool specialists are increasingly appearing in the “market” in the public domain. Yes, and for your workers chasing all and sundry. Against this background, various retention tools appear, and one of them is setting counteroffers to the current employee when he is considering leaving.

Kontroffer: scheme, causes, effects

Imagine an ordinary programmer Vasya. Vasya works for company X. Once, he went for an interview at company Y and received an offer from them. Vasya comes to his boss and announces an offer in company Y. In response, his boss in company X makes a counter offer and tries to persuade Vasya to stay in X. This counter offer is called a counteroffer.

Typically, in counteroffers, they revise salaries, bonuses, bonuses, projects, roles and so on (of course, in a direction pleasant for the employee).

Why do counteroffers? Three nasty reasons for retention

The employer understands that he will not be able to find a replacement for you during the period of your work.
The employer knows how much it will cost him to hire a new specialist, and now there simply may not be such resources (time spent by HR and interviewers, advertising costs, agency assistance, training costs and the adaptation of a new employee, etc.). An already working employee does not need to be involved or brought up to date. Writing a big salary for an employer is much cheaper.
To buy time to find a replacement for you.

Employer Manipulation and How to Recognize It

What happens when you report your departure to your employer? First of all, your superiors will be shocked that you generally thought about leaving. They will ask you why you are unhappy and what problems there are.

And then they will start to hold.

Empty promises and beautiful tales about a joint bright future will begin.
It suddenly turns out that there is some kind of new project development scheme where your role should be transformed into something.
They will talk about new challenges and challenges that are so important for your professional growth, which you will receive only here and only if you stay.
It turns out that your career prospects have already been discussed, and you just wanted to make an appointment to solemnly announce: “But we just just discussed that we want to raise you and give a substantial increase in salary.”
They will flirt with your emotional affection: “The team will be incomplete without you,” “You are such a valuable employee, and we need you.”

Stop now! And try to think about why you even decided to consider some proposal for another job. Most often, the counteroffer involves a good increase in your current salary. And this is good, because for many people, salary is still the most important motivator. But money doesn’t solve everything. Processes, people, projects, technologies, most likely, will not change. So do you agree to endure irritating factors with this increase?

The main question that you should ask yourself is: does the proposed counteroffer really solve all your problems and discontent at your current job?

And a few more important questions:

If you decide to stay, will your boss or your team not accept your attempt to leave as a betrayal?
Is the new proposal ambitious enough to stay?
Is your career growth transparent within the current company?
Maybe all this is an attempt to gain time so that your boss can, without rushing, find you a replacement?
If you were offered an increase (salary, authority), then why only now? And if you had not come with thoughts of leaving, would you have been promoted?

We are fed well here.

The idea of staying in the current place is always tempting. However, there are studies saying that such decisions can adversely affect your career. Having declared your desire to leave and talking about the offer from the “market”, you have already compromised your loyalty in the eyes of your boss or, at least, some people in the company. So, if something goes wrong, and the bosses need to fire someone, they will start with you.

Throw another fan:

You will leave anyway. According to the observations of recruiters and according to various studies, employees who choose to stay in the company still leave it within 6-12 months.
The new amount of your salary can be stressful for the company. And behind your back you will begin to look for a “cheaper” replacement.
Career suicide: without new challenges growth in routine is almost impossible.
Once again, about the abbreviations: you will become number one on the list if the company begins difficult times.
Factors that impede comfortable work will not go anywhere. Most likely, the first time will be easier for you, but then it will cover you with renewed vigor.
The adoption of a counteroffer (most often) is a more emotional decision than a rational one. It seems to you that your team will not be able to do without you, tasks will not be done, and customers will never be happy. But believe me: everything will be fine. The world will not collapse.

What if you still decide to stay?

Work even better. It is important to remember that your attempt to leave no one will be forgotten right away. And you will need to work twice as hard to regain the trust of the employer and the team.

Very rarely, a counter offer is successful in the long run. As mentioned above, studies show that you will leave within 6-12 months. The main reasons why you started looking for a new job will appear again, and / or your current employer will not be able to fulfill all the promises that he gave you in a counter offer.

You already had a reason why you wanted to quit your current job. There is something more that you would like to receive from your work and your career. And this is something that you don’t have right now. And from the air in the current place it does not appear.

Each counteroffer is different from the other. But in the end, it’s your career!

From a translator: “Personally, I am inclined to believe that counteroffers are still bad. But let’s just make it clear that I’m here about a situation where an employee has already come to quit with some other offer from the “market”.
If an employee came earlier and said that he was thinking of leaving, then there is nothing wrong with somehow trying to figure out a situation, solve problems and maintain a wonderful relationship.
In my recruiting practice, I remember only one candidate who refused a third-party offer in favor of an offer within his current company and then did not quit for six months. This person completely changed his specialization and left mobile development in the direction of the backend. The remaining cases, unfortunately, confirmed the statistics provided.
But how to prevent such situations? How to come to the boss with some problems? I usually answer these questions this way: you need to talk regularly with your mouth. Now in IT a lot of discussion about the format of conversations 1: 1. And so they just help. ”

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