Should You Accept a Counteroffer? What We’ve Seen in Payments Recruitment

Should you accept a counteroffer from your current employer? Sometimes, yes. If you love your job, love the company you work for and the only reason you're considering leaving is that you're underpaid, accepting a counteroffer can make complete sense.

But the counteroffer needs to solve the reason you wanted to leave.

That's the distinction that gets lost in a lot of advice about accepting counteroffers. More money can solve a compensation problem. It doesn't necessarily solve a progression problem, a title problem, a management problem or a role you've outgrown.

We've seen this firsthand recruiting within payments and fintech. Candidates have accepted significant counter offers to stay, only to find themselves dealing with the same career problem 12 months later.

Start With the Reason You Wanted to Leave

Before deciding whether to accept a counteroffer, go back to the beginning.

Why were you willing to speak to another company in the first place?

If you love your job and the company you work for but know you're significantly underpaid, I wouldn't automatically tell you to reject a counter offer.

If your employer recognizes that you're below market, gives you an increase you're happy with and compensation genuinely was the only issue, staying could be the right decision.

It's different when the reason you're looking is career progression.

If you've reached the ceiling in your current position and want to move into leadership, an extra $30,000 or $50,000 doesn't necessarily solve your problem. It might just make staying in the same role more financially attractive.

We've seen much larger amounts than that fail to address the real issue.

A Finance Candidate With Buy Now Pay Later Experience Gave Up a CFO Role and $60,000 More

We worked with a senior candidate in financial technology who wanted to become a CFO.

Their existing position wasn't giving them that opportunity. They reported to the CFO, and reaching CFO level was an important reason they were considering a move.

They secured an external opportunity worth approximately $60,000 more, with the CFO title and responsibility they had been looking for.

Their existing employer responded with a counter offer: more money and, importantly, a promised path to becoming CFO.

They accepted the counteroffer and stayed.

Twelve months later, they're still reporting to the CFO.

That's what makes this example important.

The candidate didn't simply turn down one compensation package for another. They turned down an external opportunity that already gave them the title and responsibility they wanted in exchange for a promise that their existing employer would give them those things in the future.

The additional compensation for staying was real and immediate.

The progression wasn't.

Twelve months later, the original reason they wanted to leave still hasn't been resolved.

Be Careful When the Best Part of a Counter Offer Happens Later

If an employer offers you an immediate salary increase, you can evaluate it.

If they offer you a new title and responsibilities effective immediately, you can evaluate those too.

The situation becomes more complicated when the reason for accepting a counter offer depends on what might happen six or 12 months from now.

A promise that your employer "sees you becoming CFO" isn't the same as becoming CFO.

The important details are the title, date, responsibilities and reporting line. There should also be clarity around what needs to happen before the promotion takes effect and, where possible, a written commitment.

The same applies if you've been promised a VP, Head of Sales or another leadership position.

There's a significant difference between an employer saying they see you progressing into leadership and committing to a defined position on a defined timeline.

If future progression is the main reason you're accepting a counteroffer, those details matter.

A $100,000 Counter-Offer Lesson For a BAAS Sales Leader

We've seen a similar situation on the commercial side of the acquiring market.

We worked with a Sales Manager/Sales leader who had an external opportunity worth approximately $100,000 more.

Their existing employer made a counteroffer with improved compensation and the promise of progression into a higher leadership role.

The candidate stayed.

A year later, they're earning more money, but they're still essentially in their original role.

Eventually, they came back to us ready to leave.

There was another problem by then.

The external role they originally turned down had already been filled.

That part of the story is important because it's one of the biggest risks candidates should consider before accepting a counter offer.

The Hidden Opportunity Cost of Accepting a Counteroffer

Most people think about a counter offer as a choice between two compensation packages.

There's another cost that's much harder to put a number on: the opportunity you're giving up.

You're potentially exchanging a real opportunity that's available to you today for a promise about what your existing employer might give you tomorrow.

We've seen that happen in both examples above.

The financial technology candidate had an actual CFO opportunity, with the title and responsibility they wanted, plus approximately $60,000 more.

The acquiring sales candidate had an external opportunity worth approximately $100,000 more.

Both stayed following counter offers that included promises around future progression.

A year later, both were earning more money, but neither had achieved the progression they had originally been looking for.

And you can't assume the external opportunity will still be available if you change your mind later.

The company will probably hire someone else. That person could remain in the position for years.

The hiring manager could move. The company's requirements could change. The payments job market could change.

Accepting a counter offer isn't simply giving your existing employer another six or 12 months.

You may also be giving up an opportunity you won't be able to recreate.

When Accepting a Counter Offer Can Make Sense

Counteroffers aren't automatically bad.

Someone who loves their job, loves their company and is simply under-earning can be a very good candidate to stay.

Perhaps you've been with the business for several years and your compensation hasn't kept pace with the market.

You're happy with your manager. You enjoy the work. You're still learning. You believe in the company and can see the progression you want.

You weren't trying to escape the business. The issue is simply that you're materially underpaid.

If your employer recognizes that and genuinely corrects your compensation, accepting the counter offer can be entirely rational.

In that situation, the counteroffer has addressed the problem that caused you to consider leaving.

That's very different from using additional compensation to cover up a problem that remains unresolved.

When More Money Doesn't Solve the Real Problem

Be much more cautious when the reason for leaving is something money can't immediately change.

That might be lack of career progression, wanting a bigger leadership remit, problems with your manager, dissatisfaction with the company culture, wanting a different type of work or concerns about the direction of the business.

It could also be something you've already been promised repeatedly.

If you've been told for two years that a promotion is coming, being told the same thing after you resign doesn't necessarily make that promise more valuable.

A substantial salary increase can make an unresolved problem easier to tolerate.

It doesn't mean the problem has disappeared.

That's why the size of a counter offer shouldn't determine the decision on its own.

Look Beyond the Salary Increase

Compensation comparisons can be particularly complicated in payments because the headline base salary doesn't always tell the whole story.

Depending on the position, the overall package could include base salary, commission, bonus, accelerators, equity and other benefits.

All of that matters.

But so does career trajectory.

A role paying more today but leaving you doing essentially the same job for another two years may not be as valuable as an opportunity that gives you a bigger title, broader responsibilities, leadership experience or exposure that positions you for your next career move.

Consider the Value of Career Progression

The CFO example demonstrates this particularly well.

The external opportunity wasn't simply worth approximately $60,000 more.

It gave the candidate the CFO title and responsibility they had been looking for.

Turning it down therefore meant giving up both immediate compensation and immediate career progression.

That progression has value.

The same principle applies to someone trying to move from Sales Manager into a Sales Director, VP or broader leadership position.

More money for staying in your current position can be attractive today. But if your long-term goal is to establish yourself at the next level, another year without that experience has an opportunity cost.

The highest compensation today doesn't necessarily create the best career or earning potential over the next three or five years.

How a Counter Offer Can Change Your Relationship With Your Employer

One common argument against accepting a counter offer is that your employer will always view you differently after you've resigned.

They'll question your loyalty. They'll see you as a flight risk. They may start looking for your replacement.

That can happen.

But we don't think it's a good enough reason to say nobody should ever accept a counteroffer.

Every company and relationship is different.

Good employers understand that talented people have options, particularly in specialist markets like payments.

If you've had an honest conversation about compensation, both sides recognize you're under market and the company genuinely wants to retain you, accepting a revised package doesn't automatically destroy the relationship.

It works both ways, though.

If you accept the counteroffer, you should genuinely want to stay.

Using external offers repeatedly as leverage for salary increases isn't a sustainable long-term career strategy.

Evaluate What Has Actually Changed

One of the simplest ways to evaluate a counteroffer is to write down the reasons you wanted to leave before your employer knew you had another offer.

Then compare those reasons with what's actually changed.

If you were underpaid, has your compensation genuinely been corrected?

If you wanted a promotion, have you actually been promoted or have you been promised a promotion?

If you wanted more responsibility, have your responsibilities changed?

If you wanted a different reporting line, is it changing?

If you wanted to move into leadership, is there now a defined leadership position and timeline?

If your goal was to become CFO, are you actually becoming CFO or have you been given a "path" to CFO?

Those distinctions matter because they stop an attractive salary increase from distracting you from the reason you started looking for another job.

Separate Immediate Changes From Future Promises

We would separate everything in the counteroffer into two categories: what changes immediately and what's being promised for later.

A new base salary that starts next month is an immediate change.

A new title effective immediately is an immediate change.

A different reporting structure that's already been agreed is an immediate change.

Being told you'll probably be promoted in six months is a future promise.

Being told the company sees you becoming CFO is a future promise.

Being told there will be opportunities to lead a larger team as the business grows is a future promise.

Those things might happen.

But they shouldn't be valued in exactly the same way as something the employer has already committed to delivering.

Get Specific About Promised Career Progression

For candidates in payments considering a counteroffer because they've been promised career progression, I'd want clarity on five things:

Title. Date. Responsibilities. Reporting line. Written commitment.

If you're becoming VP, when?

If you're being promised a CFO position, what's happening to the existing structure?

If you're moving into sales leadership, which people or teams will you lead?

What authority and responsibilities come with the position?

And what has your employer actually committed to in writing?

No company can guarantee the future completely. Businesses restructure, people leave and circumstances change.

But there's a big difference between a specific progression plan and a vague promise about what might happen in the future.

Don't Rely on Counteroffer Statistics

There's no shortage of dramatic statistics online about what supposedly happens after someone accepts a counteroffer.

You'll see claims about huge percentages of employees leaving within six months or a year after deciding to stay.

Be cautious about making a career decision based on those numbers unless you can see where the data originally came from.

Some counter-offer statistics have been repeated so many times across recruitment websites that the statistic itself starts to look like evidence, even when the original source is difficult to establish.

You don't need a scary statistic to make a sensible decision.

Your own circumstances are more useful.

A candidate who loves their company and role but is genuinely underpaid is in a very different situation from someone who has been frustrated by a lack of progression for two years.

Treating both candidates as though they should automatically reject a counter offer isn't particularly useful advice.

The Dexterous View on Accepting a Counteroffer

At Dexterous, we don't believe candidates should automatically reject every counteroffer.

We've worked with enough people across payments and financial technology to know that the circumstances matter.

If you love your company, love your role and compensation is genuinely the only reason you're considering leaving, a counter offer that properly addresses your compensation can be a good outcome.

Where we'd be more cautious is when additional money is accompanied by promises that are supposed to fix a completely different problem.

We've seen candidates turn down attractive external opportunities because they've been promised the progression they wanted internally. We've also seen what happens when, 12 months later, the money has changed but the role hasn't.

That's why our view on counteroffers is relatively simple:

A good counteroffer solves the actual reason you wanted to leave. It doesn't simply make it more expensive for you to leave.

And if you're being asked to give up a genuine external opportunity in exchange for a promise about your future, make sure you understand exactly what you're trading before you say yes.

For more insights on navigating your career in payments and fintech, visit us at www.dexteroustalent.com.