Would you take a counteroffer?

Hey everyone, I could use some outside perspective.

Earlier this year, my employer (a marketing agency with about 200 employees) cut my hours from 40 to 32 per week, dropping my pay from $86K to $69K. I later got a $5K raise, so I’m now at $74K for 32 hours.

The change wasn’t performance-related. Over the past few years, the company has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs after overhiring during COVID, similar to what happened at a lot of places. They’ve been trying to rebalance headcount. Because I’m in HR, which is a non-billable role in a billable environment, my hours were reduced instead of being laid off when client work slowed down. I’ve been with the company three years, and this is the first time I’ve been directly impacted. My boss also had her hours cut, which I believe was to help keep mine as close to 40 as possible. And the C suite just bought back the agency to get rid of the investors which ended up being a bad partnership so we’ve returned to being independently owned by our leaders.

I still really like the culture, my team, and the work I do, but there’s been no clear timeline from leadership about restoring hours. My boss, the VP of People, continues to advocate for it, but it’s ultimately up to the CEO and CFO. Honestly, if this hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be looking elsewhere. I’ve always enjoyed the flexibility, the work-life balance, and the people I work with.

Now I’m interviewing for another position that’s extremely similar to what I do now at a company that’s about double our size, around 400 employees. The benefits and flexibility seem similar, and I’d be asking for $90K, which is mid-range for the role. It’s not necessarily a bigger-budget situation, and there isn’t a huge difference overall, except that it’s a fresh start in a larger environment.

If my current company offered to restore full-time hours and raise my pay to match, I’m not sure how to weigh that. Part of me values the relationships and progress I’ve made here, but part of me worries it could change how leadership sees me or happen again down the line.

With the way the economy is going and how often people get new jobs and get laid off shortly after I don’t know if the decision is a black and white and would love to know what you all would do or if you’ve had to make a similar decision.