How much would it take to make you leave your current employer

[Auditum]

Try to tell your boss that you might leave for greater salary and that you have an offer and then try to see his reaction to this. If he appreciates you, he will increase you salary and it is better to stay then.

[elessar78]

A bag of those premium potato chips

[witchkizzle]

Update, and thank you for all the tips and advice:

Final numbers came in like this -

New job offered 22% increase and a promotion (in title only, not in duties. like manager there equals supervisor here type of deal)

Would lose $6,000 in yearly medical/HSA benefits due to higher premiums and no more employer funded HSA


Old company called me in to discuss mid year bonus and I felt so guilty about possibly accepting a bonus from a company I might be leaving that I broke it all down and told them all about it.

Within 12 hours they showed me they truly wanted to keep me and said some very nice things about not wanting me to leave. Things like "you are on partner track here", "you have the three main things we look for in a partner, and not many if anyone at all has that here at your level"


anyway, long story short. They asked me things like "to get you to stay, do we need to match or go above their offer" I told them I am not a greedy person and that they know me. I would never expect them to match, much less go over the other offer.

Then they asked "would you still be expecting a raise at year end if we matched?" I said that would be extremely unlike me and I feel like that would be petty and unfair of me to expect.

So they had a meeting to discuss and gave me the 22% increase plus an additional amount (for a total of 27% over what I was making) for being so upfront with them and for the answers I gave about not trying to "stick it to" them.

So overall, I'm very happy to have stayed. They are very happy to have me here and I got a 27% raise and didnt lose the 6k in benefits and got to keep my bonus!

[phantom]

I'm glad to hear that it turned out so very well for you! You definitely did the right thing by being upfront and honest with your company. It must be very rewarding to know how much they value you.

[witchkizzle]

It definitely does, and thank you!

I think this experience really taught me a lot about trying to approach things in my life with honesty and integrity. I do sometimes think "why didn't they just pay me better from the start", but they told me they were already looking to raise me to more of a market rate in the fall. It would not be anywhere near what they ended up giving me though. Who knows if that was true or not, but it doesn't matter at this point.

So overall, I am happy and I will just put the "why did it take this to get them to give me a raise" out of my head for now.

[mgkimsal]

It definitely does, and thank you!

I think this experience really taught me a lot about trying to approach things in my life with honesty and integrity. I do sometimes think "why didn't they just pay me better from the start", but they told me they were already looking to raise me to more of a market rate in the fall. It would not be anywhere near what they ended up giving me though. Who knows if that was true or not, but it doesn't matter at this point.

So overall, I am happy and I will just put the "why did it take this to get them to give me a raise" out of my head for now.

Congrats!

I'm always skeptical of this sort of thing, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. They probably really meant what they said, but... it's puzzling that they felt so highly of you, but you didn't know it. "You're on partner track!". Did you even know that existed? Are they really that bad at communication inside the company that this could happen?

Rather than be cynical about this and assume ulterior motives, perhaps what this will have caused them to do is realize they have communication issues and this may have lit a fire under them to fix it. If everything they said is true, but you felt the way you did, is it happening to others as well? Have they lost other good people because of this?

Good luck and continued success!

[witchkizzle]

Congrats!

I'm always skeptical of this sort of thing, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. They probably really meant what they said, but... it's puzzling that they felt so highly of you, but you didn't know it. "You're on partner track!". Did you even know that existed? Are they really that bad at communication inside the company that this could happen?

Rather than be cynical about this and assume ulterior motives, perhaps what this will have caused them to do is realize they have communication issues and this may have lit a fire under them to fix it. If everything they said is true, but you felt the way you did, is it happening to others as well? Have they lost other good people because of this?

Good luck and continued success!

Communication is one of the biggest issues we have here as employees. They actually told me that there were a few high performers they had identified as being paid too low and they were working on making that right. We just went through a CEO change last fall and our new CEO is really a employee first kind of guy. We are a small firm, like 80-85 people, so I understand that this sort of thing is going to be a struggle for them.

I knew I was on track to being partner but I told them that was a reflection on my abilities, drive, and skills and not directly related to where I worked. I felt like I could succeed anywhere I went, and I was very honest about that. They are very good about TELLING us how appreciated we are, but it got to the point where I needed them to start SHOWING me, know what I mean? I felt like I went through college, got my masters, and became a CPA (all before turning 25) and it wasn't paying off. Now it is!

They have not lost anyone good because of this. There are actually people who need to be weeded out too, as hard as it is to say.