This is a guest post written for us by Tara Lescott, MD of Recruiter Republic as part of our Recruiting Weekly series, where recruiters who work at the coal face on a week-in week-out basis share their expertise. I love the work that Recruiter Republic put into analysing every offer they make, every six months!
With a tenure of some 18 years in recruitment I have managed to gain experience across many specialist sectors and at all levels from Trainee through to Director and during this time I have managed literally 100’s of offers, resignations and counter offer scenarios. I have experienced this as a candidate, as a Recruiter and as an employer and it can be a stressful, disappointing or frustrating experience for all.
If you are a Recruiter reading this then I am sure you have read all the usual statistics about accepting counter offers and why they nearly always fail – they are nearly always a holding measure in the interests of the employer and rarely address the issues that led the employee to explore new options in the first place. In today’s market, with so many opportunities available and serious skills shortages the counter offer scenario is more of an issue than ever before. More of them happen and more employers are adopting smarter counter offer tactics to limit the damage that an exiting employer can do to their business.
As many of you know, I am now the lead of a rec2rec agency, and I am now in a position, due to experience, where I pretty much know that every candidate will be countered. I also know which candidates are more at risk of accepting a counter offer and how to avoid a candidate making a massive mistake. I have also learned that no matter what I do – sometimes it will happen no matter what I do.
As a Recruiter all you can do is put in the measures to minimise this risk and accept that on occasion it will fail.
Every six months we analyse every single offer scenario and offer acceptance / rejection and the reasons why some placements fail at counter offer stage and there is without doubt a consistent them that seems to affect candidates during the counter offer scenario. So if you are about to resign from your current role or have a candidate about to resign, read this and ensure you don’t miss out on a great opportunity for you or candidate.
Why do people resign in the first place?
Most employers think that employees resign because they have been offered more money and that’s a mistake. While new opportunities tend to result in increase remuneration and rewards it’s not normally the real reason for an employee’s unhappiness. The fact is that in the majority of cases, it’s about a broken down relationship between a employee (in our instance that happens to be a Recruiter) and their Direct Line Manager. Nearly 92% of the people that come to us are trying to change the way they are managed – sometimes it’s personal sometimes it’s not, but it’s nearly always about the way their Manager treats them or the management style of the firm.
In many cases, the candidates that approach us feel frustrated, demotivated, under-valued and misunderstood. They are not looking for a counter-offer, they simply want their life to change and quite often there is a deep level of disappointment as a result of how they have been treated; as well as a real sense of disbelief as to why their Manager doesn’t value them as they should.
If this sounds like you or a candidate your currently represent then be careful! You could be about to enter a resignation that will result in a counter offer and I warn you now, that counter offer scenario can be seductive. Why? Because finally, you or you, or your candidate, will finally get that time and attention from the boss that has been neglecting you. You will finally get that 1-2-1 time you need, you will finally hear that positive feedback you have wanted to hear for so long, you finally feel valued and wanted – and it is all incredibly seductive.
WATCH OUT FOR THE HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR
Under a sudden barrage of emotional pleas, flattery and coaching against your new offer you are at risk of forgetting why you wanted to leave in the first place – especially if your boss or other management team member are a good “Hostage Negotiator” – because let’s face it – you have just taken your boss hostage, in their minds at least! You’re leaving and their profits are at risk (not to mention the cost of replacing you that has to be allocated somewhere) – you effectively have a gun to their head and they will do anything to talk you out of it.
If you’re not careful you will forget that people rarely change and that if you don’t like your boss now you won’t like them next month either. You will temporarily forget how horrible you have been feeling…. And like a victim of an abusive partner, you are at risk of falling for the promises to change, the pleas to forgive and give them another chance. They will slowly but surely try to make you doubt yourself and in that moment they will come at you with a counter offer.
Why is it a mistake to accept a counter-offer?
Because the counter is not about YOU! It’s about THEM! The counter offer is never about the individual – it’s about the situation. Your boss does not need the headache of another vacancy to fill. They really don’t need a drop in their staff retention figures. They definitely don’t need a loss of bonuses due to a loss of fee income or indeed the extra workload of managing your work and recruiting another staff member
- So if you are a Recruiter, or have a candidate about to resign: be warned!
- Yes, they will flatter you
- Yes they will make you feel good
- Yes they will give you a counter offer to make you stay….FOR NOW.
- And if you do accept a counter is only FOR NOW, because I can assure you this relationship is now over.
- Your boss no longer trusts you. Your boss won’t change and the minute you reject your lovely new offer you will regret it. Why will you regret accepting a counter offer?
- Because literally from day 1 you will have one eye on the door wondering what could have been.
- Because your boss now doesn’t trust you and will be following your every move, email and call.
- Because you will slowly realise that your boss hasn’t changed.
- Because you will see (almost immediately) that your business is moved or changed in some way to accommodate your back-up replacement. Sometimes this will be disguised as having a Trainee to Manage, but what your Boss is really doing is getting you to train your replacement.
- Because guess what? They know it’s only a matter of time now too – but guess what – now it’s on their terms.
- No boss likes getting fired.
So before you even start to consider a counter offer:
- Sit down and write a list of the original reasons for you wanting to leave
- Score them on a scale of 1-10 for how miserable they were making you
- Now write a list of the reasons why you want to accept your new role
- Score them on a scale of 1-10 for how happy each element will make you
- Now look at your counter offer. How many of the reasons to leave are you actually really confident will change? How valuable are they to you?
- To accept a counter offer you need to be 100% confident that your boss is going to keep their word and that you won’t regret losing your original offer
THEN AND ONLY THEN DO YOU ACCEPT A COUNTER OFFER
Facts we have gathered over the last 3 years of placing recruitment professionals:
- In today’s market over 50% of candidates that resign will be counter offered (in recruitment this is now a whopping 80%)
- Over 90% of recruiters that accept a counter offer are no longer with the company 6 months later, for general industries this is 70%
- 50% of candidates that accept counter offers are active again within 60 days – all sectors
- The cost of replacing someone is generally 2 X salary, in the recruitment sector specifically it costs an agency an average of £43,000 when they lose a fee billing consultant through loss of fee income and time and money spent on replacing you. Suddenly a 6K pay rise doesn’t seem so big does it?
