A good employee puts in their notice and leadership scrambles with a last-ditch effort to keep the employee from leaving.

Most counteroffers I’ve seen are singularly focused and all about the dollar.

But people leave jobs for lots of reasons. For top-performers, in my experience, it’s almost never about the money. Compensation might be a factor, but it’s usually not the primary factor.

An INC article titled Why Smart Bosses Never Make Counteroffers, the author shares some unique insights about counteroffers and employee retention.

If you don’t want your top-performers taking calls from someone like me, be proactive with the things that the counteroffer
doesn’t address.

I’m reminded of this famed anecdote;

CFO: “What if we pay to train our people and they leave?”

CEO: “What if we don’t pay to train them and they stay?