I have a friend that had a dilemma at work, NO, the friend is not really me pretending to be the friend, but here it goes………. need some advice….

Lets say my friend works for PEPSI and a new cola company wants him to come work for them in the sales department lets call it NEWCOLA just so you can follow along.

Now lets back up a little, Pepsi hired my friend about 5 months ago, he replaced a guy ( lets call him Tim ) as sales representative that actually quit and went to work for NEWCOLA, after 3 years with a solid company, but soon came crawling back to Pepsi, and was given his old job back, but after 2 weeks back at Pepsi, he was fired for trying to manipulate customers, ( Tim ) was some how still doing work for NEWCOLA,……… hence Pepsi hired my friend to do Tims old job. In last 3 months my friend has made the company over 1 million dollars, that’s more than Tim made them last year……
moving right along……….. another guy, we will call him Aaron is the guy that trained my friend, he had 12 years in with Pepsi and actually trained my friend to do Tim’s sales job ( Aaron’s title really isn’t important, but he was a right hand man for the General Manager )….

Last Friday Aaron up and quit and went to work for NEWCOLA, one of the other employees saw him recently and he said that Tim ( the old sales guy ) was kicking but at NEWCOLA and they offered Aaron a deal to come and work for them, ( it must have been a deal for him to just quit after 12 years )

The general Manager really likes my friends work performance and is very pleased, after Aaron quit, my friend got a $ 100 per week raise, out of loyalty for his company, he was asked to keep an eye out for Aaron around town as he was also going after old PEPSI customers, and to report back any sightings or other pertinent information. The general manager is a good ole boy and really likes loyalty, you see, Aaron was not only his right hand, but a good friend, the GM felt like the knife is still in his back for how this all happened

Today, Aaron approached my friend with an offer to come over to NEWCOLA, my friend only had 5 months work experience in sales, in the cola industry, but his performance and numbers are outstanding. Aaron offers him $ 200 more per week that he is currently making. ( that’s $ 200 on top of the $ 100 raise he just got )
Sounds good but where is the catch…….

Why did Tim leave to go back to PEPSI the first time ? He did not think NEWCOLA had deep pockets, as some paychecks were late, NEWCOLA has since received a 3 million dollar advance thru a merger with another corp. Tim and Aaron are currently trying to make deals with old PEPSI customers as they know the PEPSI system and can bend numbers to make sweeter deals. Some smaller customers are going with NEWCOLA

The Dilemma :
Should my friend report back to his general manager ( GM ) and tell him, that he was approached by Aaron to come and work for NEWCOLA, ( remember my friend is pretty happy there he just got a $ 100 a week raise ). He thinks that this act would get him some loyalty points with the GM since Aaron discussed how they were going after the old customers, and the GM might be able to adjust pricing or save customers from making a switch to NEWCOLA

Or……….Should he secretly discuss options with Aaron, knowing Aaron recently stiffed the GM, a good friend of 12 years to go work for another company.

More money isn’t always the answer, Tim wanted to bail out cause pay checks were not as promised, but Aaron made the jump after 12 years with a sold company. So that has to make you think about the financial situation of NEWCOLA.

The future for NEWCOLA is completely unknown………PEPSI may not take him back if he jumps over to NEWCOLA and NEWCOLA fails.

I gave him my opinion, but I just wonder what anyone else might have to say……thanks for staying with me on this

 

My opinion, for what ever THAT's worth, is, "ride for the brand". Loyalty is a very rare trait in employees any more and is normally highly prized. I don't know that I'd go to the current boss about the offer, but I'm sure I'd turn it down. The grass is not always greener in the other guys pasture. If you water your own, it'll green right up. If a "good friend" couldn't trust Aaron, who can? If the current job is a good situation, don't throw away any progress made toward advancement by jumping ship. It looks bad on a resume and turns into a habit. Pepsi is a huge company and will be around a long time. Stick with them unless something heinous, illegal, immoral, or just plain unacceptable is going on, and it doesn't sound like that's the case.

 

I agree. If Aaron did what he did to his boss and good friend just imagine what he would do to your friend.

The best thing your friend could do is to suggest a method of "Non-compete" employment contracts and "Confidentiality Agreements" to management to protect the future of his present employer.

 

Lots of options here, but it does seem like trusting someone who just betrayed a good friend is a bad idea. I don't think bringing up an offer like this is a bad idea in salary negotiations - "Look, the same job at Newcola has been offered to me at $200/week more,...."

 

I think loyalty is under valued in our present day society - BUT IT SHOULDN'T BE!!! I'm for your friend sticking with 'pepsi', letting the GM know what's going on and reap the benifits down the road. Most GMs won't forget loyalty, integrity and good work.

 

as my buddy looking over my shoulder reading these replies, thanks all of you, BTW this had nothing to do with soda companies, but did not want to take the chance by mensioning companies, he asks about the loyalty thing, remember he just got a $ 100 a week raise, but the offer from NEWCOLA was for $ 200 more a week than currently making ( including the $ 100 a week ) so really a total of $ 300 more per week than he was making several weeks ago....follow me.......he thinks the boss will appreciate the loyalty of him comming forward with the offer, but he will not offer him any more than the $ 100 a wek raise he just got, he enjoys the position and there are perks ( company car, laptop, freedom, expense account, etc )......he would also get these perks with the new company in addition to more salary.

the good way to look at this, should he stay, he is now one more person closer to the top, but if he changed companies he would be at least 2 places lower on the totem pole since Aaron and Tim jumped ship long before him, he would also have to be in their shadows for a while with the new company......do these added thoughts change or add to anyone perspective, he has a meeting with the boss on Tuesday morning, he really wants to know about disclosing the offer to his boss more than anything....sure everyone needs more money, but I told him its a good job, raises will come in the future....thanks

 

If he intends to stay with his present employer it doesn't hurt anything to let the boss know that they offered him more money to jump ship. He doesn't have to demand more money, he can even let them know he appreciated the previous raise and isn't looking for another one right away. But IMO that sets him up for a better future with the present company.

There are times when it is best to change jobs but more thought should be given to long term benifits and not the immediate gain. If he gets along well with the current employer and employees, and salary and benifits are adequate, for me that would make it harder to consider changing jobs.

 

My thoughts exactly. Armed with this new tidbit, I agree with marksr. One of my brothers was faced with a very similar situation several years ago, took the jump based on immediate income increase, and will regret it the rest of his life. It pretty much dead ended his carrere.