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So you finally decided to go through the pain of looking for a new role, you applied to lots of adverts, had conversations with recruiters with mixed results and finally end up with a new job offer that you are happy with and accept.
As you go to hand in your notice and suddenly your employer is surprised, shocked and offers you something better than you are already on to stay, everything gets confusing, and the emotional blackmail starts.
At this time counteroffers are rife, and it is so important for you to put into perspective what a counteroffer actually means for you and your long-term career development.
To give context, employers and teams are currently being stretched to breaking point with overworked staff as they desperately try to fill open positions in one of the most competitive hiring markets for decades.
This also means a huge rise in counteroffers as businesses also desperately try to keep the staff they have got as hiring people is taking longer and costing more. This means the average counteroffer of 6-7% has now risen to nearly 15-20%, with other benefits such as reduced time in the office, additional bonus and improved annual leave … however it is important to remember the reasons for looking elsewhere in the first place and often a slight salary increase, or an extra holiday will not actually fix the problem.
In a post-Covid world, we have realised what is actually important to us including overall well-being, a healthy work-life balance and a hybrid working set-up. Receiving £100 extra a month in a pay packet is no longer a key driver!
All planned recruitment was obviously delayed by 12 months, so we now have a workload correction crisis, with record numbers of open vacancies, proven by record numbers highest since…well they started recording job numbers.
A counteroffer now actually assists a business with these difficulties as its cheaper than lengthy recruitment processes including recruitment fees and paying for advertising. Essentially it’s just a money-saving exercise to keep an individual in a business.
To give context before you consider accepting a counteroffer, there are some statistics to consider. Recruiters are not known for data integrity, so I’ll be realistic and say from the 30+ years of experience within our team in recruitment around 50-75% of candidates are back on the market between 6 - 9 months.
Accepting a counteroffer only benefits your current employer and can hinder your career development and progression.
Myself and the finance team have a wealth of experience in helping individuals not only secure an excellent new role but make sure you navigate your leaving process so that you get the very best for your career.
If you would like a confidential conversation on salary expectations of client accountants or need help with your next hire we can help. Please feel free to book a short call with me or connect.
Or if you are a Client Accountant looking for a new role within property management accounts or would just like a confidential chat about how your salary/package stacks up in the market, please feel free to contact me.
Article written by Olivia Marsdale, Associate Director - Property Management Accounts, Tech & IT and Business Support.