Your star employee resigns and you counteroffer them to stay, but how much longer will they stick around?
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In the fight to hold onto top talent, many companies are offering higher salaries to workers who announce they're planning to quit for a better job opportunity.
But new research from global staffing firm Robert Half suggests this method serves only as a stop-gap retention strategy for employers and isn't a long-term career solution for employees.
The findings show staff members who accept counteroffers typically end up leaving the company in less than two years.
Senior managers across a variety of professional fields, including finance and accounting, technology, legal, advertising and marketing, and human resources, were asked, “Do you ever extend counteroffers to employees to keep them from leaving for another job?”
Their responses: 58% said yes. 42% said no.
Senior managers were also asked, “On average, how long do employees who accept counteroffers remain with your company?” The mean response was 1.7 years.
The primary reasons leaders said they extend counteroffers are to prevent the loss of an employee’s institutional knowledge and to avoid spending time or money hiring a replacement.
“Counteroffers are typically a knee-jerk reaction to broader staffing issues,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director for Robert Half.
“While they may seem like a quick fix for employers, the solution is often temporary. When employees accept a counteroffer, they will likely quit soon afterward.”
He said this is typically because the root causes of why they wanted to leave in the first place may still exist and cannot be solved by the higher salary.
Additionally, counteroffers could also negatively affect the employee-employer relationship as McDonald believes when employees accept the money, employers may end up questioning their loyalty to the company.
Do you think counteroffers are enough to keep staff from leaving? Share your thoughts below.
