mcmpearl t1_iybjhoq wrote on November 30, 2022 at 4:09 AM

I am not a fan of counter offers. It means they should have been paying you more all along, but didn't.

I prefer being in a junior position that pays the same salary as a senior position. You should have more potential growth with the new employer or if necessary, the next employer that you transition to.

Other posters give even more reasons. Like they won't give you good raises at the current employer to make up for the money they are giving you in the counter offer.

Additional considerations - what made you apply to another job in the first place, relationship with current co-workers, perception of relationship with new co-workers, commute time, interest in work, which job is likely to get you closer to where you want to be in 5 yrs, stability of employers and industries, . . .

Fair_Charity_5368 t1_iycd23c wrote on November 30, 2022 at 10:09 AM

I disagree. A company is only going to pay you what you need to bring you on and increase your salary enough to keep you around. Every company could pay their employees more.

I say OP needs to do what they think is best.

Dragonfire45 t1_iyd08ot wrote on November 30, 2022 at 2:19 PM

They didn’t even match the counter offer. They stayed 1000 short purposely. No way I’d want to stay with that company. If $1000 is make or break for them, then I wouldn’t expect any raises anytime soon or for them to replace them first chance they get

Fair_Charity_5368 t1_iydavbe wrote on November 30, 2022 at 3:36 PM

Yeah ,it's odd to come short by 1 grand at that point. It's almost as if they were intentionally saying, "we won't match it."

I'm not saying it's right, but it's just business.

I don't actually know the statistics, but I would imagine 80% of people just take their 2 percent raise (really not a raise anyway when you account for inflation) and just keep working, it's only the 20 percent that leave, so mathematically it makes more sense to just rehire and retrain the small(er) percentage of people that leave.

coolbeans31337 t1_iyd0v0w wrote on November 30, 2022 at 2:24 PM

I agree with this statement. Why would a company pay more than it actually needs to as long as they think their employee is happy enough to stay?

Fair_Charity_5368 t1_iydb2xa wrote on November 30, 2022 at 3:38 PM

Yeah, even the employees that complain about it usually still stick around, and management/owners know that most people won't push it beyond that and actually leave.

ghalta t1_iyde0r8 wrote on November 30, 2022 at 3:57 PM

Salary is sort of like market value of a home.

Year after year, the tax authority relies on surveys and general data about your neighborhood to estimate the fair market value of the property. On occasion, though, your house might get a more direct valuation. Maybe you got a formal appraisal. Maybe, and this is better still, you received an offer on the property. With this new, direct, specific data, you have better numbers than the appraisal board. If they don't match, you can take that data and get your appraisal changed.

Some companies may underpay and rely on inertia to keep staff. Others may genuinely think they are paying you a fair market rate, because they rely on salary surveys and other ancillary data that is about your role and general experience level but not about you. Your job offer from somewhere else is an offer letter to buy your work, and gives your existing employer new data with which they can evaluate you specifically in the job market. In this case, I don't think them "underpaying" you before was nefarious, and a counter offer could be made with complete sincerity.