Argh, counter offer?!

Haggisman

Haggisman

Haggisman

Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2004
Posts
18,774
Location
Birmingham
So... today I had a formal offer and contract come through for a job which I accepted via email yesterday.

I've just had an informal "chat" with my current boss, and his immediate response was "if we make a counter offer would you stay?".

Told him my reasons for leaving:

  • I've been seconded to a customer's site for the last year - told him I no longer feel like part of the team, and like I've just been pushed aside while no one gives a ****. (I told him I understood the business reasons for it, but that it wasn't what I wanted to be doing).
  • More scope for advancement - the new company is a bit bigger, and it feels like I could go further in terms of progression.
  • More money - there's a 15% payrise at the new company.

He asked (informally) if:

  • Bringing me back into the office
  • Providing a clear path for progression
  • Matching the offer

Would change my mind. I said I'd consider it, but it would depend on exactly what the offer was.

He's going to be having a chat with the MD about it and getting back to me within the next day or 2, but in the mean time I wanted some thoughts.

To summarise staying with the current vs accepting the new:

Staying With Current Company
Pros:

  • Really convenient - 3 miles from home.
  • Security (in as much as I've been here 5 years so they can't just get rid of me)
  • Nice environment/co-workers

Cons:

  • Not currently doing what I want (but I would be if I was back in the office)
  • How stable is the work? Would I be sent out to another customer's site for a year in 6 months?
  • Will I want to leave again in 6 months?
  • Loss of trust from me wanting to leave.
  • Break my agreement with the new company, letting them down and essentially "blacklisting" myself with them.

Accepting the New Position:
Pros:

  • Fresh start - something new to get into
  • It's what I want to be doing
  • Bigger company - more scope for progression
  • More money - I'll be starting on more than currently, and after 6 months probation it may go up more

Cons:

  • Further away (~12 miles/30 mins) each way
  • Probation means they could get rid of me easily for any reason

I'm leaning towards the new position, but the things giving me second thoughts are the increase in commute (I love being so close currently as I can pop home for lunch, ride my bike in to work etc.) and the loss of security during my probation.
 
Don't take a counter-offer. A change of scenery and people will do you good, and there's a reason you wanted to leave.
 
Objectively it looks like an easy choice.

Take the new role.

The con's don't seem that bad:

Cons:
Further away (~12 miles/30 mins) each way
Probation means they could get rid of me easily for any reason
Click to expand...

- 30mins isn't so bad, perfectly doable, and many do far far longer commutes.
- Probation comment is kind of mute. You can say that about any position, even the one you currently have.

So lets look at the pro's

Fresh start - something new to get into
It's what I want to be doing
Bigger company - more scope for progression
More money - I'll be starting on more than currently, and after 6 months probation it may go up more
Click to expand...

That's a very strong list of positives.

- We all need fresh starts in our careers at some point.

- Sounds like you're not doing what you want to be, even if you were relocated to the main office. Doing something every day that you want to do makes a massive difference to job satisfaction.

- Bigger company can offer more concrete progression paths, vertical and horizontal.

- More money is always helpful..

I'm not sure if it's strictly true, but I read somewhere that statistically, those who accept counter offers only stay at that employment a few months extra. If you've actually gone through the thought process and actively applied for and interviewed for another position it usually means you want to move anyway.

Whatever you decide though, good luck.
 
Did your current boss know you were having issues before you handed your notice in? If so, and nothing was done, then whatever they promise you now is just empty words to try and stop you leaving. In the long term, they won't honour the promises for whatever rationalisations they give you down the line. If they weren't looking after you before, they won't look after you now.

It's good to have a new start every so often, and get a chance to grow beyond where you are now.
 
DiscoDave said:
Objectively it looks like an easy choice.

Take the new role.

The con's don't seem that bad:



- 30mins isn't so bad, perfectly doable, and many do far far longer commutes.
- Probation comment is kind of mute. You can say that about any position, even the one you currently have.

So lets look at the pro's



That's a very strong list of positives.

- We all need fresh starts in our careers at some point.

- Sounds like you're not doing what you want to be, even if you were relocated to the main office. Doing something every day that you want to do makes a massive difference to job satisfaction.

- Bigger company can offer more concrete progression paths, vertical and horizontal.

- More money is always helpful..

I'm not sure if it's strictly true, but I read somewhere that statistically, those who accept counter offers only stay at that employment a few months extra. If you've actually gone through the thought process and actively applied for and interviewed for another position it usually means you want to move anyway.

Whatever you decide though, good luck.
Click to expand...

Thank you - think that's what I needed to hear

Steampunk said:
Did your current boss know you were having issues before you handed your notice in?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have raised my concerns a few times over the last year, and its pretty much been met with "we'll see what we can do"

I think the new job is the right choice, and I'm just having second thoughts because it's a big change! :)
 
You obviously want and need a change otherwise you wouldn't have looked for a new job, take the new job or in 12 months you'll be going through this process again.
 
Clov!s said:
You obviously want and need a change otherwise you wouldn't have looked for a new job, take the new job or in 12 months you'll be going through this process again.
Click to expand...

why not go through the process again now... take the counter offer and carry on interviewing - only now you're worth X+counter offer raise so any new employer is going to have to pay you even more... if no one is prepared to pay you significantly more then you're at market rates and you can push along the promotion path arranged as part of the counter offer... if you are still offered a decent pay rise to leave then either the current place needs to bump up pay again or you walk

excessive job hopping isn't good but job hopping itself can get raises... a counter offer is like a free turn - you get the financial benefit of job hopping without actually having to job hop that go.... ergo you can afford to interview again and try for another bump up without harming your CV too much. Plus the fact the current place are obviously not wanting to lose him and have mentioned progression makes that possibly a good option anyway - especially if some of the previous issues with working remotely have been resolved.
 
The cons you have listed for the new position aren't really big deals. 12 miles is still not a huge commute and don't worry about probation, you'll be fine.
 
Haggisman said:
Thank you - think that's what I needed to hear



Yeah, I have raised my concerns a few times over the last year, and its pretty much been met with "we'll see what we can do"

I think the new job is the right choice, and I'm just having second thoughts because it's a big change! :)
Click to expand...

Big changes that are new opportunities are good though. There's nothing wrong with feeling scared as well as excited, it's all part of getting out of a complacent rut.

If you don't take the new job, you'll always wonder if you should have done so, because I guarantee you'll be looking again in a few months when your boss is coming up with more excuses as to why they haven't been able to look after you as an employee. Nothing has changed, but now you are at the point if leaving they decide they can suddenly make you happy? They already had a chance to keep you, and instead were happy to let you get miserable enough to get another job. You don't need to put up with that nonsense if you've already got another job to go to.
 
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Never take a counter offer. Ever.*

Did it once, regretted it almost straight away, left 6 months later anyway - after reneging on a verbal acceptance of the new job.

If you have to be in a position where you get another job before you feel confident to talk to your manager about those sort of fundamental, job-quitting issues, you're in the wrong job (or have the wrong manager).

[edit] * unless you are playing the "I QUIT" card to get a counter-offer, obvs.
 
Steampunk said:
Big changes that are new opportunities are good though. There's nothing wrong with feeling scared as well as excited, it's all part of getting out of a complacent rut.

If you don't take the new job, you'll always wonder if you should have done so, because I guarantee you'll be looking again in a few months when your boss is coming up with more excuses as to why they haven't been able to look after you as an employee. Nothing has changed, but now you are at the point if leaving they decide they can suddenly make you happy? They already had a chance to keep you, and instead were happy to let you get miserable enough to get another job. You don't need to put up with that nonsense if you've already got another job to go to.
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This.
 
Hmmm......counter offers are not all bad.
The way i see it (happens in our company and others i know of),
companies will always want the best output for the least input. Not a great ethos but still, it happens.
Some companies are only re-active because they're too busy 'doing business'. So they find out a valued employee is leaving, panic a little, realise his true value and make an offer to keep them. Nothing suprising there tbh.
Other companies will always look after their staff. Had you been at one of those companies then a counter offer would be counter-intuitive imho and i'd certainly suggest moving on.
We have a plenty of members of the "boomerang club" whereby people who have left have come back (some even 3 times).
A sensible MD/Board will see that people don't always move people they smell extra money, (family, location etc) it's often simply business, and will accept previous employees back into the fold because they bring value to the business. Sure they may leave again, but that's business.
I don't think your current company would lose trust in you for wanting to leave and then taking their counter-offer. You told them of your grievances and they did nothing about it. Again, sometimes they are too busy to see that staff are being negatively affecting by their working conditions.

All that said, i think i'd be considering the new offer. But you've been spoilt with only a 3 mile journey to work. 12 aint that huge, but if its traffic, i reckon i'd bottle it, lol.

Good luck.
 
I would say take the new job, yes you are comfortable where you are with your feet under the table in the sense that they cant just get rid of you, but if you know you can do this new job, why would they just get rid of you?

It costs them time and money to recruit, they aren't going to be wanting to do that again with a good reason.

Your current job has annoyed you enough to apply yourself into finding a new job, that isn't something you would have taken lightly I'm sure.

They are only now taking you seriously after you've said you are going, I'd say too little too late.

12 miles isn't all that far, I do roughly that and yes, in traffic it can take up to an hour on the way home, but it still only costs me a tank of petrol less than every two weeks and that's with only a 45l tank!
 
If this is genuinely the first time you've made your feelings known to your boss then give them a chance to rectify it for you to get you to stay. I'm swaying towards staying with your current company, if they can get things in writing for you within a couple of days.
 
A company that suddenly wants to keep a leaving employee can easily give them an equal amount of cash. It's much harder to change the job, other people in the team, company ethos and atmosphere, managers that make life miserable, lots of travelling, a long commute, etc.

The beginning of the end for two of my jobs was when they wanted me to go from basically being office-based to "we want you to do loads of international travel". It's not what was promised or what I signed on for, so even if they'd been willing to give me money to stay, I wasn't interested in what they wanted to change my job into. One of them was because I was fed up of a nightmare commute that was eating up hours of my life every day.

Money is the easiest thing to fix if they want to keep you, it's the rest of the issues that will keep you moving out the door.
 
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