Another query from a reader:
“I have resigned from my current company (worked here for over five years) and accepted another offer. However, my present company would like to match the offer in terms of better role & compensation. I’m stuck! Do I leave or stay?”
Here’s what I would say in just three words - You should leave.
Here’s why: Counter-offers are bad. Personally I hate them. Really! Both sides are at fault – companies that make counter offers & employees who accept them. Why did the company have to match an offer after you have resigned? If you believe your talent is high-worth, they should have given you a better role & salary before resigning. They have messed up with their planning and a counter-offer is only a temporary damage-control activity. You’ll have to continue work with a ‘high-risk-employee’ tag. What’s the guarantee it won’t happen again? Right? Second, the company is setting a dangerous precedent! If they give employees counter-offers, it’s like asking other employees to find a competitive offer to check their worth.
From your end, I believe you took up interviews because you were convinced that your current employer couldn’t help you move to the next level, both in terms of role & comp. If you were only offer-shopping to prove a point to your current employer – that’s very very bad. Also, you don’t want to spend the rest of the time under observation/surveillance with your current employer. Right? After all, you did it once & might repeat it. Remember being a high-risk employee? Eventually, they will expect you to do a lot more on the job and before you know it you’ll be applying for a new job within a year.
Save yourself the trouble and start afresh. Go join the new company.
All the best!
