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Counter-Offer Decision Worksheet

Complete this before your counter-offer conversation, not during it.

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When your current employer makes a counter-offer, the conversation happens fast. This worksheet is designed to be completed in advance, so your decision is grounded in the reasons you decided to look in the first place, not in the emotion of the moment.

This worksheet pairs with The Counter-Offer Reality Check.

Section 1

The reasons I decided to look

List the reasons that led you to explore a new opportunity. Then rate whether the counter-offer addresses each one.

Section 2

What changes vs. what stays the same

Section 3

The trust question

Research

SHRM Research Institute surveyed approximately 1,500 U.S. HR professionals in 2022 and found that inadequate compensation is the number one driver of voluntary departure, but lack of career development is number two. A salary adjustment does not solve a career development problem. (SHRM Research Institute, Better Workplaces on a Budget, 2022.)

Promotion, role restructuring, leadership path, equity, written commitments
Verbal promises at this stage carry little weight. Written agreements with a named decision-maker carry more.
Answer this honestly before you accept. It is much harder to answer after.
Section 4

My decision

Based on everything above, where do you land?

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