You may feel guilty about letting the team down. You may feel uncertainty about whether you are making the right decision. Your boss may try to persuade you to stay. You may be counter-offered.
These feelings and experiences are natural and quite commonplace. Most employees experience one or more of them in the resignation process. It is important to recognize they will happen and to stick to your resolve.
What happens if you receive a counter-offer?
Research has shown that most employees who accept a counter-offer leave their companies within a year. If you are presented with a counter-offer, consider the following points:
-
Why are you leaving?
Examine your initial motivations for making a career move. Was it lack of intellectual growth, career development, or a personality conflict? It is unlikely that these concerns can realistically be addressed and resolved in a counter-offer.
-
Why did the offer only come after your resignation?
Ask yourself why your boss is showing their appreciation for you just now. Is it only because keeping you on staff is less bothersome than going through the efforts of searching for your replacement?
-
Will there be tension if you stay?
Most employers will have lingering concerns about your loyalty to the company. Are you going to resign as soon as something more attractive comes along? These perceptions may affect your chances of promotion or receiving extra responsibility.
-
Will your credibility be at risk?
When you change your mind after accepting an offer from a new employer, you run the risk of damaging your credibility with both your current manager and the organization you were considering joining.
Research has shown that most employees who accept a counter-offer leave their companies within a year. If you are presented with a Sometimes accepting the counter-offer may be the right thing to do. In most cases, it may be simply delaying the inevitable. Review your options and the above points and you’ll make the right decision. You got this!