A Lose-Lose-Lose Situation
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
 |
| Think carefully before burning. (Image by Max Beck, via Unsplash, license.) |
Most of the points in the post focus on how accepting a counteroffer changes the relationship between the employer and the employee. These all make sense, but won't necessarily jump out at most people in the situation -- especially those that might affect the employer. So it's worth heading over there to think about those.
But the last point is potentially the most important, given the fact that the others indicate that the employee may face -- or end up wanting -- an exit, anyway:
Good luck getting that new employer to ever consider you again. If you go all the way through their hiring process only to accept a counteroffer from your current employer, then the former is going to be wary of considering you in the future. If it's a company you'd like to work with, you might be shutting a door you'd rather keep open.That's a great point, and underscores why I hold Alison Green's blog in such high regard. Green helps her readers understand how the interests of the different members of a work team can conflict or coincide, and makes it clear how to react appropriately.
Using a job offer as leverage with a current employer has good odds of being, as Michael Scott might put it, a "lose-lose-lose situation." That's good to know, but it is better to understand why.
-- CAV
2 comments:
I've seen it work both ways. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, after all; sometimes a company needs to be reminded that you CAN leave.
I recently saw this work out very well. A few people in the company I work for submitted applications at other companies, then went to their supervisors and said "Here's what I'm being offered. Can you match it?" The result was that the company reviewed their raise/promotion/bonus structure and worked to ensure that folks didn't end up in stagnant positions. It wasn't just the employees that applied to other jobs that benefitted; our supervisors were smart enough to realize that there was a real problem, and to work to correct it.
Dinwar,
That is very interesting, and meshes with advice I've seen her give to the effect that it can sometimes be more effective to present major problems to management as a group. (One person can be dismissed as a malcontent, etc.)
In this case, it's very easy to see why that worked!
Gus
Post a Comment