ALMOST half of all employers counter-offer resigning staff but the majority of these attempts are unsuccessful, according to specialist recruiter Hays.
In their experience, Hays says that approximately one in two employers will counter-offer a resigning staff member in the current recruitment market, but in four out of five cases, these counter-offered staff members still leave the business within 12 months.
Around 30 percent leave as planned despite the counter-offer, 40 percent stay less than 3 months and the remainder will stay between 3 and 12 months. Just one in five of those counter-offered will remain with the business longer than 12 months.
“As the skills shortage continues, employers will increase their efforts to attract, retain and reward quality staff,” said Chris Mead, General Manager of Hays in Singapore. “So in cases where an employee with skills in demand resigns, many employers understandably try to counter-offer them.
“But this is rarely a successful retention strategy because the employee already has several other offers on the table. They’ve applied for and seriously considered other vacancies so their decision to leave the company was made long ago.
“Even if a counter-offer is accepted, we still caution concern as the original motivation for looking for another role remains, often leading to another resignation. This motivation will not be solved simply through counter-offering a slight increase in salary. Unless the issues are addressed, the employee is likely to still seek a better offer elsewhere.
“For those employees considering a counter-offer, we would advise you to reflect on the reasons you looked for a new role initially and gain commitment from your employer to tackle these issues before accepting the offer.
“Despite the fact that the success of counter-offers as a retention strategy is rare, we would not be surprised to see an increase in counter-offers in the next twelve months as employers continue to attempt to retain their valued skills,” Chris said.
