Any job counter-offer stories?

snakebread · June 5th, 2006, 07:39 PM

I just tried to quit today, and got counter-offered. I want to take it and avoid the stress of leaving and establishing myself at a new company, but all the websites out there say to NEVER accept.

Has anyone ever accepted one?

A*O · June 5th, 2006, 07:45 PM

Why do you want to quit? More money or intolerable work conditions? If the former, screw them to the wall for a better wage and other financial benefits. If it's a crap place to work, it will still be a crap place to work tomorrow.

enctpc · June 5th, 2006, 08:37 PM

I have never taken a counter offer, when I decide to leave I know it is time to get out and more money wont make the place or people any better or different. But I know people who have been offered lots of money to stay on and it has turned out great for them.... Sorry I know this doesn't help. Hope things turn out the way you want

snakebread · June 5th, 2006, 10:22 PM

Actually, everything helps. The original place wasn't a crap place, just not as optimal as I hoped. But somehow with a lot more money... it is.

sherbear905 · June 5th, 2006, 10:38 PM

As a "counter-offer-er", I can shed a little bit of light on the "other side" of this deal~

I've only done this on rare occassions, and for me it has not been out of desperation, but because the employee may have been a terrific one, that may have been making a rush decision.
It is so much easier to make a counter-offer to a great employee, than it is to hire someone new and get them to that same level.
Offering an employee more $$ to stay is not as easy as one might think. It's not like we have an "open spending allowance", and "why didn't they just give me more money in the first place". We usually have to get approval, after submitting a lengthy explanation of why we feel it is justified, and we don't always get that approval.
If I ever felt that an employee was "threatening to quit", just to get an increase, I would not offer, due to questionable integrity.
I've had a few success stories (a couple hourly employees promoted to Coordinator or Assistant Manager positions), and a few "wish I had not made that offer" cases, where the employee tried to push the "give me an increase" envelope too often.
Sometimes management needs to gently remind an employee that the company is a great one to work for. It happens way too often that an employee might leave, try a new job or two, and either try to come back to our company, or just through conversations we hear that they wish they had never left.

If you are truly unhappy in your place of employment, more money will not necessarily make you happier. Always weigh what your company does have to offer you before leaving, because "the grass is not always greener", as they say.

AliceInWonderland · October 2nd, 2006, 02:00 PM

mmmmph very interesting thread!

I wonder how it all turned out....

LynnieD · October 2nd, 2006, 02:32 PM

Me too!! I actually did accept a counter offer made by my last company (before I had my daughter) and it turned out to be a good thing for me personally. Glad I stayed.....

Parks · October 2nd, 2006, 02:57 PM

I was offered higher pay at the job after turning in my 2 week resignation but I really wanted to focus on school so I turned it down.

At my most recent job I placed my 2 week resignation so I can begin another year of college and I was offered a job by a company that works alongside the company I was employed by. I turned it down as well. :|

misswang · October 2nd, 2006, 05:25 PM

Hmm...my only question is if the company was able to counter-offer in an attempt to keep you, why weren't they paying you that amount to begin with? A friend of mine encountered a similar ordeal. After she got another job with a new company with a salary that was 60% higher than what she was making, her company offered to match her salary in order to get her to stay. I sincerely hope that this wasn't the issue here. She was offended that they were underpaying her by so much and were only willing to shell out the bucks once she said she was leaving.

AliceInWonderland · October 2nd, 2006, 06:26 PM

^ yeah thats fucked up seriously.

Mavado · October 3rd, 2006, 05:33 PM

^^ It is beyond fucked up!!!! same exact thing happened to me. At my first job i was getting paid $9/hr. I worked this for a year, then landed another, much easier job for $12/hr. When i put my 2 weeks in at my first job they offered to pay me 11.50/hr. Well i didn't know but as it turned out 11.50 was the MINIMUM the company was supposed to pay any employee. I was furious!!!!!!!! i worked my ass off for a year for 2.50 less an hour, i was underpayed for a whole year. When the supervisor offered me to stay for a second time i said (these were my exact words) "SHOVE A KNIFE UP YOUR A$$ BITCH!!!!" I could've sued the company for the money they technically "owed" me but i didn't want to go through all that sh*t. I hate the court system.