So you're willing to risk losing the intellectual capital you've invested into your workers? That must be one helluva an ND you've got on them to be able to afford that.
We calculate that we get no return on a new employee for at least two years.
No... I don't like to lose people. As it would happen, the employee that I was talking about above decided not to leave for the other company, even though they offered about 10% more. I didn't have to counter. In truth... the outside offer came to him unsolicited. He wasn't out looking for it.
I told this person that I already *know* that he's worth more than he's being paid. He's a good egg. I've been fighting for 10-15% raises for him every year for the last five years, and getting them, plus about a 10% bonus. I'm trying to be as fair as I can be, and I'm doing the best I can for him. I think there are many employers that wouldn't be able to do what I've been able to do with my staff.
But a mistake I made some years ago was to counter when a particular employee had been out job-shopping. He'd only been with us for about six months. He was hired before I was his manager, but when I looked at his resume it was clear that he was a job-shopper. He hadn't been *anywhere* for more than six months in about four years. He got another offer and I countered for more to try to keep him... he took the counter, but left three months later anyway.