Counter Offer

by Abigail
(Indonesia)

Hi Carl,

My boss is very nice to me actually. I got 2 promotions and 3 raise within 2.5 years. However, due to company corporate policy and crisis all managers receive no increment this year.

I was approached by another company in the industry and they actually offered me a better package for the same position. The only problem was that the company is a bit far (70 km away from my home). I was not looking for a job actually beforehand, I like my job but with all prices going up I think it would be good to have a change and an increment.

My boss is offering me a counter offer to match the package, he talked (for the 1st time during the time he worked for the company) to the CEO and CFO to get this approved.

So, what do you suggest me to do? The only thing that I don't like about my new job is the same position like I'm doing now, role wise - it would be smaller... So, in a way it doesn't give me extra room to learn new things or widen my role.

Please advise me.

tks

Abigail

Response from Carl: Thanks for the question, Abigail. Ultimately you will of course need to make the best decision for yourself since you'll obviously be the one living with the results. Here are some thoughts regarding a counter offer that I hope will help you out.

It sounds like your boss already knows you have another job offer as he's busy trying to see if he can match the one you have received from the other company. It seems you have a good relationship with your boss but I'm unsure of how your boss feels now that he knows you had been speaking with another company for a job.

This is especially true when your current job and the one you're considering are fairly similar but in your case it seems that your current job and the one you have the offer for are in fact somewhat different, with different considerations beyond just money. Your words seem to suggest that all things being equal, you'd prefer to stay with your current employer if they could match (or come close to) the package you would receive with your new employer.

At this point it seems one of two things will happen:

1. You'll get the same or similar monetary offer from your current company that you received from the other company which I suspect would lead you to want to stay with your current employer as you already mentioned that your current job is closer and appears to have more responsibilities.

2. Your boss won't be able to get you a raise in which case you'll be back to deciding whether to earn less with your current employer or have a longer commute and earn more money with the new employer in a position that might be less challenging than your current one.

The thing I always caution with accepting counter offers is the feeling that your current company is left with if you choose to accept the offer ie. they know that you were looking for another job elsewhere. Again, perhaps the relationship you have with your boss is a positive one and this won't be a problem. Still, I just wanted to mention it.

At the end of the day, I suspect your decision might be helped along by the decision from your current employer, in terms of whether or not they are willing to match your the offer you have received at which point you will need to figure out what is best for you.

If you're looking for some more thoughts on counter offers including some more thoughts regarding what I just referred to above, check out this page that I've written that discusses counter offers.

Good luck with your decision!

Carl