To Counter, or Not to Counter?
By Sklar & Associates In Uncategorized On November 11, 2010
As we reported yesterday, Google has decided to give all their employees a 10% raise and a nice little year end bonus. Companies are realizing that in today’s world people are not loyal to their companies as they once had been. Not only that, but aren’t employees somewhat disposable as well? Employees are scared that should layoffs arise, they will not be saved. There are no guarantees anymore.
But lately we are seeing a rise in counter offers, and our candidates actually taking them. They get a bright and shiny new offer from another company, and their current employer comes back to them with a higher salary and more promise in their career. It’s easier just to stay with your current company, right? Well, not so fast. It turns out that about 60% of candidates who do end up staying at their current company want to leave again within six months. That is not very promising. So short term happiness doesn’t always mean long term happiness. Something to think about!
But how can this be rectified? Well, the companies can certainly take care of their top employees before employees start to stray. However, this is tough because we are not out of the recession yet. So often times, it comes down to offering more when they are faced with losing an employee. But this may not be the best option for employers. Think about the fact that this employee has already decided to leave, has interviewed and been offered a new position. Wouldn’t an employer always question their loyalty? It’s a knee jerk reaction to fight for your best employees, but there are often many other circumstances that go into it.
Another way is that the candidate can really think about why they want to leave before they start looking. Is it more money, more opportunity? It’s easy to say that candidates should meet with the higher ups to let them know they are dissatisfied, but this is tough to do until they have another offer in their hands. And often times, a candidate doesn’t think that their company will actually fight for them.
Whatever the case may be, we are in an unusual job market. We try to manage our candidates’ finding the right opportunity for them, as well as our agencies finding the top talent. And are here to be a resource for both.