Victor Pereira· Sales Compensation Manager, Qasr Holdings
Posted in Compensation ·
Policy at my firm, a professional services business in Singapore with about 1,700 people, is that we do not counter-offer. Last year partners made 46 counter-offers out of roughly 140 resignations among fee earners. Average uplift was 16%.
I tracked the 46. Twelve months later, 21 had left anyway. Of those who stayed, most now sit above everyone else at their level, and their peers know why.
My view is that a policy nobody follows is worse than none. I would rather have an honest rule: counter-offers allowed for a defined list of critical roles, capped, with reward involved before the conversation happens. Has anyone moved from a blanket no to something like that?
4 helpful · 2 insightful · 3 agree · 5 replies · 242 views · 4 following
Colin WalshWWP, CBS
People Analytics Lead, Kestrel Aerospace
We did, two years ago. Counter-offers are permitted only where the person is on the succession plan or in a role on the critical skills list, the cap is 12%, and it has to be approved within 48 hours. Volume dropped by more than half because most cases simply did not qualify.
Benefits Manager, Steinbach Industrie
I would keep the blanket no and enforce it. Every counter-offer teaches the rest of the team that resigning is how you get a pay review. The 21 who left anyway is the number I would put in front of your partners.
Senior Compensation Analyst, Cardinal Insurance
What we added was a rule that any counter-offer triggers a review of the whole team at that level within three months. It makes the true cost visible. A 16% uplift for one person usually turned into a 4–5% correction for five others, and leaders became much more selective.
Director of Benefits, Bellwether Consulting
The real fix is upstream. We run a flight-risk review each quarter for people under 90% of market in hard-to-replace roles and adjust before they resign. It cost 0.3% of payroll and counter-offers went from about thirty a year to six.
Colin WalshWWP, CBS
People Analytics Lead, Kestrel Aerospace
The team review rule is the piece I was missing. The partners see a counter-offer as one decision about one person, and that would show them what it sets off. I will propose the critical-roles list with a 12% cap and the three-month peer review together.
