You hand in your notice and, within a day, your manager comes back with a number.

More money. A new title. Maybe even the flexible working arrangement you asked for last year.

Getting a counter-offer can be flattering. It can also make a decision that felt settled suddenly seem much more complicated.

Before you say yes, however, there’s one question worth asking:

Why did it take your resignation for things to change?

A Raise After You Resign Is A Different Kind Of Raise

When a pay rise comes during a performance review, it can be recognition of your work, contribution and development.

When it arrives immediately after you resign, there may be another factor at play: how difficult, expensive or inconvenient you would be to replace.

That doesn’t automatically make the counter-offer a bad one. But it does mean you should look beyond the new salary.

Think about what made you start job hunting in the first place.

Was it your salary? Your manager? A lack of progression? Your workload? Company culture? Flexibility? Feeling undervalued?

If the problem was purely financial and your employer has now genuinely addressed it, staying may make sense.

But if your reasons went much deeper, another few hundred euros on your payslip may not change how you feel about your job three months from now.

What Is Your Employer Actually Offering?

There are practical reasons why an employer might make a counter-offer.

Replacing an experienced employee takes time. There may be interviews to arrange, a notice period to cover, responsibilities to redistribute and a new employee to train.

Keeping you may therefore be the simplest solution for the business.

Again, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t accept. It simply means you should distinguish between an employer addressing your long-term concerns and one solving an immediate staffing problem.

If you’re being promised a promotion, different responsibilities, remote working, more flexibility or other changes alongside the salary increase, get specific about what those changes actually mean.

Ask Yourself These 3 Questions Before Accepting

1. If You Had Always Been Earning This Salary, Would You Still Have Applied Elsewhere?

This is probably the simplest test.

Imagine the counter-offer salary had been on your payslip six months ago.

Would you still have updated your CV? Would you still have looked through vacancies? Would you still have attended that interview?

If the answer is yes, salary probably wasn’t the real reason you wanted to leave.

If the answer is no, the counter-offer may be addressing the main issue.

2. What Actually Changes On Monday?

Don’t focus only on what you’re being promised. Ask what will be tangibly different if you stay.

A new title?

Different responsibilities?

More flexible hours?

A defined progression plan?

A change in workload?

If important changes form part of the counter-offer, ask for them to be documented clearly, including when they will take effect.

A vague promise about what might happen “soon” is very different from an agreed change to your employment terms.

3. How Did You Feel Before The Counter-Offer Arrived?

Think back to the moment you decided to accept another opportunity or hand in your resignation.

How certain were you then?

You made that decision without a counter-offer sitting in front of you. Revisiting what you were thinking at that point can help separate your original reasons for leaving from the immediate appeal of being offered more to stay.

If You Decide To Stay

Accepting a counter-offer isn’t automatically the wrong decision.

Sometimes an employer genuinely wants to retain someone and uses the resignation as a catalyst to correct salary, progression or working arrangements that should have been addressed earlier.

If you stay, make sure you understand exactly what you’re accepting.

Get significant changes confirmed in writing, ensure any revised terms are reflected appropriately in your employment documentation and consider agreeing on a future review date.

It’s also worth maintaining the professional relationships you built while exploring other opportunities. Malta is a small employment market, and you never know when your paths may cross again.

And If You Decide To Leave, Leave Well

Declining a counter-offer doesn’t need to mean damaging the relationship with your current employer.

Work your notice properly. Prepare a thorough handover. Be professional with colleagues and thank the people who supported you.

How you leave a company can matter just as much as how you joined it.

Ultimately, a counter-offer gives you another option — not necessarily a better one.

Look beyond the number and ask yourself whether the reasons you wanted to leave have actually changed.

Because the most important question isn’t simply “Are they offering me enough to stay?”

It’s “Do I still want to leave?”

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