Counteroffer, stay or go?

You finally decide to start looking for a new job. You go through a lengthy search process, you’re presented with an enticing career opportunity, and get an offer you’re fully prepared to accept. But when you tell your current employer you’re planning to leave, they surprise you with a counteroffer. Should you stay or should you go? Research shows:

Nearly 40% of senior executives and HR leaders alike agreed that accepting a counteroffer from a current employer will adversely affect one’s career. Nevertheless, some 78% of senior executives and 80% of HR leaders indicated that it is sometimes acceptable to embrace a counteroffer. 

Consider the possible repercussions of accepting. Asked to check off as many negative consequences of accepting a counteroffer as apply, nearly 80% of senior executives and 60% of HR leaders cited diminished trust and compromised reputation among the executives and board members of the employee’s current company. Nearly 80% of senior executives and 67% of HR leaders cited the same consequences with the board and executives of the spurned company. And 71% of senior executives and 67% of HR leaders also said that superiors in the current company would question the employee’s loyalty going forward.

Counteroffers work out well in only 5% to 25% of cases, but only for a short time.

K.O.Kay & M.Cullen Harvard Business Review