Linda Currie, Managing Consultant, Accountancy and Finance, HRC Recruitment, takes a look at the the counter offer for those looking to move on

If you’ve ever been close to changing job, you’re probably familiar with the tap on the shoulder that usually comes after handing in your notice.

It’s followed by management taking you to a room and making you an offer which, to paraphrase, studies suggest you’ll most likely refuse…

Counter offers have been common in some industries for years – accountants, and bankers have generally been made them at several points in their careers. But, as the supply of labour has tightened, they’ve begun to drip down into other areas too.

Previously the preserve of fee-earners, since the turn of the year we’ve seen counter offers made to pre-qualified accountants, personal assistants, and payroll staff – all of which are positions for which it would previously have been unthinkable.

There’s a universal explanation to why this is happening: businesses of all descriptions are increasingly trying to keep hold of their staff.

The thought of replacing experienced support staff wouldn’t have perturbed a hiring manager this time last year. But that’s become a much more difficult endeavour now – there has been a noticeable drop in the number of applications made for jobs across the board.

Undoubtedly, it’s also being driven by businesses waking up to the costs of replacing a good member of staff at any level. A 2014 report from Oxford Economics put the average expense at £30,000, predominantly made up of lost productivity in time spent getting new staff up to speed.

From an organisation’s perspective then, whether to make a counter offer rests on the quality of the staff member in question and the likely cost and ease with which they can be replaced.

However, for a candidate on the receiving end, it’s a much more complicated decision – one that is inextricably linked to the reasons they were thinking about leaving in the first place.

If it’s about money or a relationship with a specific individual, usually a direct colleague, then there should be a simple remedy: they can speak to their boss and ask for more money or to move team.

That’s why it’s so important for a recruiter, and the individual themselves, to dig deep and ask why they are looking for a new job at all.

If a candidate stays for extra money but is actually leaving for another reason, more often than not they’ll be back on the market in six months to a year’s team. In fact, a Wall Street Journal survey found 93% of the candidates who accepted a counter offer left their company within 18 months.

Why? Put simply, because businesses can make a lot of false promises – they have good intentions, but don’t follow through with their plans. Candidates, therefore, need to look at a company’s setup and decide whether they’re likely to get what they need. They should also get what has been agreed in writing, in the form of a revised job description or new contract altogether.

For employers, it can also be a prime opportunity to re-evaluate how they use their staff. They could create a new level for junior employees with ambitions to step into or put them through training – they’ll sometimes realise that their people could be used in a better way.

With a lack of quality staff likely to be the story of 2018, counter offers are only likely to become more common. Whether to accept a counter offer, or even make one at all, is a big decision. Both employers and staff need to think carefully about what they’ll do when put in that situation – many for the first time.