Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to make a judgement call on whether the counter-offer is because they actually saw the light and realized they can’t stand to lose you, and now will pay you what you are worth, or whether it’s a temporary solution to keep you around long enough to train your replacement. What does your gut say? Have you seen people accept counter offers in the past? How did that go?

My team mate put it 2 weeks notice last Friday (total coincidence) and they told him to just be done because he had several days of pto in there anyway. No one else has left since I've been here.

This seems pretty relevant. They’re desperate to keep you because they can’t afford to backfill two positions.

Always. Then work at the higher paying job for a couple years, then start looking for a new job with a higher salary.

OP - you like your current company, you know you can be successful there, they obviously like you and want to keep you, and you just doubled your income. What's not to like?

The whole "they could have been paying you more" argument is made by people who don't run businesses. There are tons of reasons why somebody may be underpaid - some more legit than others - but ultimately it comes down to negotiations. You stumbled into a good negotiation tactic and won. Take the win and enjoy it!

I accepted the counter and it worked out. It had a similar situation, except I was “head hunted” by a new company. I was content in my job, but was feeling antsy and knew that peers in my field had jumped ship during Covid for more money so I entertained the recruiter and started down the path of serious calls with this new company. I never even received formal offer, but understood the salary ranges this company was able to give. It was moving fast!

I went to a former mentor and friend a few levels up at my company for advice. They pretty much said “do what you have to do” but then asked for permission to share with the leadership team (above my direct manager). I found out later that they are encouraged to retain “top talent” - Which I guess I was. A few days later I got a call from the highest VP in my organization - on my personal phone. They asked why I was leaving (I said lacknof growth, new opportunities, etc) and then they said they would look into some things if I would give them another chance. (It did rub me the wrong way because they also said negative things about the other company that i prob would not like it there and that it was below me. But I guess they were grasping at straws)

Long story short, I received a significant raise/counteroffer. Then 6 months later I was reached out to ”interview” for a position/promotion in another organization. (This higher role better aligned with my new high salary) And my bonus/raise that year was based off of that new salary so 3-4 years later, I am still winning!

I’d take the counter and plan to only stay for another 1-2 years… actually now that you’ve threatened to leave your company will be expecting you to try again probably sooner. And now you know that you can find a job elsewhere. And most importantly they do too.

Your manager likely put in a good word for you and after they thought you were leaving was able to get you the raise, but seemingly they have very little authority over actual increases otherwise. They are likely making less than the $130 themselves.

Don’t forget that hiring managers are human - they understand the value of money. I’d tell the new company that you were excited to join them, but your current company gave you a 30% higher offer that you cannot pass up. Make it about the money alone. They will offer you more if they can and if they want you enough. If they cannot, you haven’t really burnt any bridges. They likely have a close runner up waiting in the wings anyway.

This happened to me at my old job and I accepted the counter offer. Contrary to common advice, it ended up working fine for me and I kept getting my typical annual pay bumps afterwards and there was no sense of feeling like I was in any potential chopping block for perceived disloyalty. I think the factor that worked for me in my situation was that this was a global company with payscales dictated by HR. For my little niche corner of the company, the payscale was known to be below market for the niche industry, so having another offer was the only way my team could circumvent the arbitrary pay scale the parent company imposed.

I think it also depends on what your family situation is.

For me, as a single parent with college fast approaching, 30K, and 30% of my salary would be too much to turn down. On the other hand, if my spouse existed and earned 100K too, so it was 15% of our combined income, or if they earned even more, and it was a smaller percent, I might make a different calculation.

It depends upon the stability of each company. Are both companies prominent in your industry ?

Anonymous wrote:That is a big enough jump that I might take it and stay for another year. Use the 130K salary to leverage up to an even higher base.

Not sure what I would do bit think about this...

Anonymous wrote:You have to make a judgement call on whether the counter-offer is because they actually saw the light and realized they can’t stand to lose you, and now will pay you what you are worth, or whether it’s a temporary solution to keep you around long enough to train your replacement. What does your gut say? Have you seen people accept counter offers in the past? How did that go?

My team mate put it 2 weeks notice last Friday (total coincidence) and they told him to just be done because he had several days of pto in there anyway. No one else has left since I've been here.

You have to make a judgement call on whether the counter-offer is because they actually saw the light and realized they can’t stand to lose you, and now will pay you what you are worth, or whether it’s a temporary solution to keep you around long enough to train your replacement. What does your gut say? Have you seen people accept counter offers in the past? How did that go?

I accepted a counter offer in a similar situation and stayed another couple of years. I went from 90k to 130k, and even got a 25k bonus that same year so the relationship wasn't poisoned and I was valued, I guess. I got some good experience and then leveraged it for another bump and am now at a fabulous company with a really good comp package.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t see an issue taking a counter offer. Even if your boss wants to give you a raise it may be very difficult to accomplish due to internal bureaucracy. When you get an outside offer it may give your boss an excuse to ask for a counteroffer which may be a completely different process from a raise. Counter offer means your boss wants to keep you. The only puzzling thing to me in this post the counteroffer being 30% higher. Why? Typical counteroffer just matches the offer.

The new job offer had a 25% bonus potential too so they one upped that.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts so far

I don’t see an issue taking a counter offer. Even if your boss wants to give you a raise it may be very difficult to accomplish due to internal bureaucracy. When you get an outside offer it may give your boss an excuse to ask for a counteroffer which may be a completely different process from a raise. Counter offer means your boss wants to keep you. The only puzzling thing to me in this post the counteroffer being 30% higher. Why? Typical counteroffer just matches the offer.

Never take the counteroffer, unless you are very confident you could get another job again.