What you can expect when you tender your resignation...
Unless you dislike your current role, the thought of handing in your notice might fill you with dread.
Perhaps your present employer has helped you progress professionally and as a result, you may feel uncomfortable resigning. You will be leaving fellow managers and colleagues. You may even see some of them out of work as social friends. These people may have been instrumental in advancing your career. All or some of the above may make you feel uneasy – however, when you do come to hand in your notice it is important to remember why you started looking for a new role in the first place.
Equally, your employer will be sorry to lose you. Put yourself in your boss's position. What would you do? It is natural to resist change and disruption. Your boss will be no exception. He or She will want to keep you and will attempt to do so with a Counter-Offer. In their eyes, your acceptance of a new job is a mistake.
Counter offers have many variations:
“This is confidential and I shouldn't be telling you this, but we were looking at promoting you in the next six months."
" We will match your new offer and put it into effect next payday. I had meant to review it anyway."
“ Don't make a decision now, have a think about it and we'll sit down next week and discuss it."
Stop and ask yourself these questions:
- Where is the money for the counter-offer coming from? Is it your next raise early? Companies have strict wage guidelines.
- The same circumstances that made you look at alternatives today will face you tomorrow. Will the increase in money make up for this?
- What kind of company do you work for if you have to threaten to resign before they will give you your worth?
- If you were the manager, would you promote someone whom you perceive to have been disloyal?
- When times get tough, who do you think they'll begin cutbacks with?
- How likely is it that the same circumstances that now cause you to consider a change will repeat themselves in the future?
- This rise makes me expensive for the job position I'm in. How will that affect my future rises?
- You received this counter-offer because you resigned ‑ will you have to do that the next time you think you're ready for a pay rise?
Be prepared for a speech from your Employer concerning loyalty and commitment and remember the manner of your resignation will affect the willingness of the Employee to give you a future reference. It is a fact that 80% of people who resign, then accept a counter-offer from their current employer which encourages them to retract their original resignation, will end up leaving their current employer within the following 6 months.
It can cost 213% of a candidate’s salary to replace them when they leave (*source: Forbes, 2018) so sometimes it’s just easier, cheaper and less stressful for companies to make a Counter-Offer when an employee resigns.
Moreover, the best way to manage the loss of a resource, that you would typically rather not lose, is to plan to lose that resource. It is therefore not uncommon for companies to make a counter-offer and then retain the services of a recruitment consultant to find a replacement unbeknown to you.
Statistics show that accepting a counter-offer has one of two extremely high probabilities:
1 you will leave voluntarily within a short space of time, or
2 you find that your resignation is held against you and nothing improves
If you receive a counter-offer, depend upon your judgement because quite simply you are the only one who can fully understand the situation. Remember - the counter-offer is only a belated recognition of the contribution you have made to your company. If it had come unprompted wouldn't that be a lot more flattering?
At prosperIS, we will help guide you through the stressful process of handing in your notice. We can provide you with our unique Resignation Guide that will provide some useful hints and tips as well as some letter templates that may prove useful. Please feel free to get in touch to learn more.