Negotiating with employers

alibalibee1

Has anyone been offered a job but went to current employer and said if you give me xxx I will stay with you? Does it even work in this day and age?

sangie595

alibalibee1 wrote: »

Has anyone been offered a job but went to current employer and said if you give me xxx I will stay with you? Does it even work in this day and age?

Put it like that and you'll be lucky if they tell you to take a hike. If they need you, for now, they'll offer a bit more to keep you - until the time they have your replacement, and then they'll tell you to take a hike! There's nothing wrong with having another job and moving on. But "give me more money to stay" is a demand. It's arrogant and it's not likely to give them any confidence in your loyalty to them. If they want to make you an offer, then they don't need a demand from you. If they don't, then you aren't quite as valuable to them as you think.

BorisThomson

If you want a pay rise, you need to present a business case as to why you are worth it.

What you're suggesting sounds like a poor attempt at blackmail!

fiisch

It works if you're genuinely willing to leave and you're a valued employee or will prove difficult to replace.

However, in my experience, if you're genuinely willing to leave, a few extra quid won't result in you sticking around for very long anyway....

I wouldn't recommend this approach unless you are looking to leave, as they may well call your bluff.

Moonshine14

I would say it could go either way it depends on how much they value you as an employee. They could offer to increase your salary or be happy to allow you to resign.

bugslet

Depends on your job as well. If other people doing either the same work, or similar find out that you got a pay rise, then they may want one as well.

Ozzuk

It does happen, although it sets a dangerous precedent. It also could limit any future opportunities, perhaps even payrises (if you are moved to top of band for instance). So I'd think carefully.

Also, if the reason you are moving is purely financial, a few more things to consider...money is a poor motivator long term; you'll lose any protection with new company for first two years; loss of pension/any other benefits; no guarantee you'll even like working with the new business.

All that needs to be factored in before accepting another job.

If the exercise is really about getting more money from your current employer then as Boris says, the right way is to produce a business case, look at external roles for benchmarking etc...

marlot

As a boss, I never gave a counter offer. If someone had reached the stage of looking for jobs elsewhere it was usually better to let them go.

I much prefered to have regular open conversations with people and find ways to keep them happy in their job. Finding out what they were passionate about and helping them move their job in that direction. Finding ways of giving them extra experience etc.

ReadingTim

According to various articles I've seen on LinkedIn, counter-offers rarely work; the employee ends up leaving within a few months/less than a year anyway - people don't look for other jobs simply because of pay - there's always more to it, and a few thousand more a year (after tax, and divided by 12) really doesn't really make that much difference on a monthly basis.

Furthermore, many employers don't appreciate having a gun held to their head by an employee, so may tell you to take a hike even if they don't want to lose you.

Malthusian

I found a new job earlier this year, I had a counter-offer from my employer, and I took it.

The reason I was looking for a new job was to progress my career (plus I believed I was underpaid). My current employer offered to pay me significantly more than the new one was offering, and, more importantly, to give me the opportunity to progress far earlier than the new one would have done. For that and other reasons it was a no-brainer.

So it does work occasionally, but you need the right employer - and you need to be sufficiently valued yourself. As others have said, if you accept a counter-offer but the issue that caused you to go jobhunting in the first place is still there, you'll only have kicked the can down the road. Usually that issue is a block on your progression or annoying colleagues/boss, and those aren't likely to change. I was lucky - in my case it was.

Fireflyaway

Asking for a pay rise is one thing but asking for a rise or you will leave is different. Its probably likely to annoy your employer and backfire. It seems a bit arrogant as very few people are irreplaceable.