Episode 12: Counteroffers; Are You Retaining Talent— or Delaying Turnover?
Counteroffers can feel like a quick solution. They may stop an immediate resignation, protect a stretched team, and buy the organization time. But buying time is not the same as solving the problem.
In this episode of What the Comp?! – The Pay Strategy Podcast, Jennifer Loftus takes on one of the most common—and most misunderstood—retention tools in the workplace: the counteroffer.
Jennifer explores why counteroffers often address the immediate staffing crisis while leaving the underlying issue untouched.
- Was the employee underpaid?
- Was there a lack of career growth?
- Was workload the real problem?
- Was it the manager relationship, flexibility, recognition, internal equity, or trust in leadership?
- And perhaps the most important question:
Why did it take a resignation for the organization to act?
This episode explores how counteroffers can unintentionally create new problems, including internal equity concerns, pay compression, inconsistent compensation decisions, and a dangerous message to employees that the fastest way to get paid differently is to threaten to leave.
Jennifer also shares practical steps organizations can take to move from reactive retention to a more proactive strategy, including identifying counteroffer patterns, reviewing high-risk roles before employees resign, creating clear decision rules, and addressing what needs to change beyond the paycheck.
Because the goal is not necessarily to never make a counteroffer.
The goal is to stop using counteroffers as a substitute for a healthy compensation and retention strategy.
The counteroffer may not be the real problem. It may be the signal that something else needs attention.