How to deal with a counter offer

Taking a counter offer is almost never a good idea. It’s a knee jerk reaction by the company that statistically tends not to work out in the long run. In some studies more than 50% of all employees that accept a counter offer leave within the next 6 months. They may just be trying to entice you into staying in the short term in order to get you to sign a non-compete or fill a short term need and later force you out. Certainly, your chances of being passed up for promotions will go up because of doubts on your long term commitment. Sometimes things that seem to make sense in the short term are the wrong decisions in the long term.

You may want to ask yourself these questions: Are they offering more money because they value you or because they don’t want you working for a competitor? If they valued you that much, why weren’t they paying more already? What happens to your long term prospects with the organization after they know you are willing to leave? What will this do to your future job prospects, especially if they want to implement a new non-compete?

Here is a good article from Business Week that discusses the consequences of dealing with counter offers.