TRUE STORY:

It was February 2002, I think. At the time, I was working as a debt collector. The manager who showed me the ropes had just left the company where I was working. Several days later, I told him that no matter where he went, I would be loyal to him and join him wherever he’d go.

The following week, my telephone rang, and it was the call that I had been waiting for. I left the office during my lunch hour to see what my potential new employer could offer me. WOW! An extra $200 per month! In 2002, with a CEGEP in Human Sciences, this was a lot of money! On returning to the office, my boss called me into his office. News of my visit to our competitors had got out, and it soon reached him. I accepted $100 more per month. And 3 months later, I left the company.

I made the mistake of accepting a counter-offer. I like to think that I was young and innocent.

Here is why you should refuse a counter-offer from your employer :

1. Even if you receive a counter-offer, your employer might doubt your loyalty to the company.

You have opened a breach, you have dared to go and look elsewhere. This will certainly break the bond of trust that unites you and your present employer. Even if he tells you otherwise, you should doubt this. Why would you remain in a place where there is no longer any trust or loyalty?

2.Your reasons for going to see what is happening on the market are as valid today as they were yesterday.

Think back to why you decided to change jobs : a lack of advancement, new challenges, wanting to endanger you. Whatever your reasons were before, they are still valid today. Does this attractive counter-offer really settle the issues that pushed you to want to leave?

3. Are you sure about your employer’s loyalty?

You got an salary increase, sure. Who is to say that your boss won’t find your replacement at a lower cost? In fact, when you accept a counter-offer, there is an 80% chance that you will no longer be employed at this company within 12 months.

I repeat:

There is an 80% chance that you will no longer be employed at this company within 12 months.

4. You are finally going to cut ties with your future employer.

Instead of having a potential employer, you will have a sworn enemy, a ferocious competitor who is going to say that you wasted his time

In conclusion…

The counter-offer is often an attractive proposal. If you accept, you won’t have any guarantee that things will change. Unfortunately. Change is probably found on the other side of the fence, with the new employer who is ready to invest in you.

It’s something to think about.

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