By Jess Gazda, Business Manager
Counteroffers are becoming a routine part of the resignation process in 2026, with more employers choosing to make a last-minute bid to retain staff rather than let them walk. The shift reflects continued difficulty filling skilled roles, the rising cost of replacing experienced employees, and a growing awareness among businesses of how much a resignation actually costs once recruitment, onboarding and lost productivity are factored in.
For hiring managers, the trend changes the maths of every resignation conversation. A counteroffer that once felt like an exceptional measure, reserved for a handful of irreplaceable people, is increasingly the default first response. That shift brings real risks for employers who have not thought through their counteroffer strategy in advance.
Several factors are pushing more businesses towards counteroffers this year. Skills shortages in key sectors mean that replacing an experienced employee can take considerably longer than it did a few years ago, and the salary needed to attract a replacement is often higher than the cost of retaining the person already in post. Employers are also more aware of the hidden costs of turnover, including the time managers spend interviewing, the productivity dip while a new starter gets up to speed, and the knowledge that leaves with a departing employee.
There is also a cultural element. As more employees resign with a competing offer in hand, more employers are treating a resignation as the opening move in a negotiation rather than a final decision. That expectation, on both sides, tends to be self-reinforcing.
The difficulty with counteroffers is that they are usually made under time pressure, often within a day or two of a resignation, with little opportunity for the employer to consider the wider consequences. A counteroffer accepted in haste can create problems that outlast the immediate crisis.
Employees who accept a counteroffer frequently leave within twelve months regardless, having addressed the symptom (pay) rather than the underlying reason for looking elsewhere. Counteroffers can also create pay inequity within a team, where a departing employee is upgraded ahead of colleagues doing the same job, and they can damage trust once the resignation attempt becomes known more widely. There is also a signalling problem: once a business is known to counteroffer, employees may learn that resigning is the fastest route to a pay rise.
Businesses considering a counteroffer in 2026 are increasingly being advised to prepare a policy in advance rather than deciding in the moment. That preparation typically covers a few key questions:
Employers are also being encouraged to treat exit conversations and stay conversations as separate exercises. A counteroffer made in reaction to a resignation is a defensive measure. A proactive review of pay, workload and progression for valued staff, conducted before anyone hands in their notice, tends to be a far more durable way of preventing the resignation in the first place.
With skills shortages expected to persist through 2026, counteroffers are likely to remain a common feature of the resignation process rather than a rare exception. Employers who approach them with a clear policy, rather than a rushed reaction, will be better placed to retain the right people without creating problems elsewhere in the business.
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