PROMOTED BY NAIMAN CLARKEW ith the market hotter than ever, candidates are dipping their toes in the water to see what "the market" might pay them. Often, it is simply to obtain a better deal from their current employer, but is it really worth it in the long run?
Job hunting can be an unsettling and tiresome process. Once you’ve nailed an incredible new role and made an attempt at resigning, we are finding that many employers will not “give up” their stars without a fight. A counteroffer (an offer from your current employer to rival or better the one you have received from your future employer) can assume a variety of forms, often presented in the guise of a straight increase in salary, a better title/promotion, additional company benefits, more flexibility, or any combination of the above. Unsurprisingly, this can leave the candidate very confused and questioning whether to remain loyal to their current employer or sticking to their initial motivations to go to market. Leaving a job you’ve been in for some time or a supervising partner you actually like is difficult. Being confronted with pressure to stay, either through a guilt trip or having the reasons for leaving challenged, undermined or eradicated by way of a “post resignation fix”, can make the situation even more complicated. Even if you worked hard to get the new job and it checks all the boxes, you find yourself thinking: maybe I owe my boss/the firm to stay; maybe I lack loyalty; and maybe the company will suffer unfairly if I leave. Ultimately, maybe things will improve if I just give it another shot.
In the current lawyer-short market we find ourselves experiencing, counteroffers are more common than one would expect. Statistics on exactly how often it happens are non-existent, but research on the subject does bring up one recurring phenomenon. Most people who accept a counteroffer have subsequently left their job within the following 12 months, and a significant majority are gone within 3-6 months.
The rationale to retain you has some very real commercial and logical reasoning behind it. In our experience, it is less often a sign of how “important” you are to an organisation and the length to which a firm will go to retain you, but that your current employer may have other reasons for acceding to requests that have long been ignored, which could include these factors: replacing an employee is an expensive and time-consuming exercise, which they may not have time right now to undertake; they may want you to finish a case or matter that you are currently working on; they could lack the time or resources to train someone new into the role; as well as the fact that losing you could reflect badly on the partner or on the clients you are working with.
The question then becomes, do I stay, or do I go? Some factors to consider when entertaining a counteroffer include the fact that your loyalty is likely to always be in question, and more importantly, why is the firm now offering you what you deserve rather than before your resignation? Has the true reasoning behind your resignation actually been addressed? We have found that employers will put together a counteroffer that, on the face of it, looks to address genuine concerns, but many months later, when the threat of departure is off the table, those promises have been long forgotten.
The most important thing to consider is that Sydney is small, the other major cities are even smaller, firms and partners don’t forgive lightly a turned down offer. The reputational damage can be significant, especially if you are turning down an offer to accept a counter offer from your current employer. Ultimately, when going to market, set your motivations, make sure you have canvassed all possible options to stay at your current employer, and don’t set out into the market frivolously. The legal industry is not one where “tyre-kicking” is an accepted form of strong arming a negotiation.
