Irish-based employees seeing significant counter-offers when trying to quit – report

3 Mar 2015

Almost half of companies in Ireland counter-offer when staff look to change jobs, a new survey conducted by Brightwater suggests.

The survey, which covered hundreds of employees and employers, shows just how comitted companies are to retaining their staff, which makes sense when extrapolated into the IT industry, where a labour shortage continues to make life hard for business.

Over half of those asked had been made counter-offers in the past, with anything up to 50pc pay increases noted. Interestingly, of those who did accept the counter offer to stay, 8pc were looking for a new job within three months.

Interestingly just 10pc of staff turn down counter-offers according to employers, with this finding given some light when seeing that 30pc of those who did accept thought ‘better the devil you know’.

Breakdown

Of the surveyed employees who rejected a counter-offer, nearly half claim that there is absolutely nothing that could have made them stay with their previous employer. “This,” explains Brightwater, “tells us that, in most cases, the relationship between employer and employee is already irrevocably damaged by the time counter-offers come into play.”

Brightwater’s findings strongly indicate a swing in the balance of negotiating power away from employers and in favour of key employees, who can now command increased salaries and benefits from companies desperate to retain their skills in house.

“The fact that companies are now willing to put their money where their mouth is and make substantial counter-offers suggests a returning confidence in economic conditions,” says Brightwater’s MD, David Bloch.

Importance of staff

“It also once again highlights the vital importance and major challenge of attracting and retaining talented staff.”

Meanwhile a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey released yesterday indicates a growth in pay rises in Ireland, rising 2pc this year and something similar next.

“But pay increases won’t necessarily be across the board,” explains The Irish Times, “with individual performance (80pc) the top driver of salary increases. External benchmarking has become more prevalent in recent years and is now the second most popular driver of pay increases (74pc) followed by company performance (72pc).”

Employee tug-of-war image via Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt
By Gordon Hunt

Gordon Hunt joined Silicon Republic in October 2014 as a journalist. He spends most of his time avoiding conversations about music, appreciating even the least creative pun and rueing the day he panicked when meeting Paul McGrath. His favourite thing on the internet is the ‘Random Article’ link on Wikipedia.

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