Employee gets 35% higher-paying offer from their ‘biggest client’ after boss skips meeting, now wonders if he should tell his company

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do,” Steve Jobs said in his iconic 2005 speech with Stanford Commencement Address, about being good in the workplace, but what if someone who already loves his job, has some savings for rainy days, suddenly got a lucrative offer from elsewhere with a bigger paycheck and a senior role? And when the offering company is actually your current organization’s biggest competitor, one motivational quote alone can't decide for you for sure.

One Reddit user found himself in this to-a-T situation after his boss missed a meeting with an important client. The employee, who manages one of his company’s larger accounts, said he has been “working with the same people there for almost 2 years.” His boss was supposed to join a call with the client’s director but dropped out at the last minute. So the employee handled the meeting alone when the unexpected offer came.

The client director made an unexpected offer

“After we finished talking business, the director stayed on and asked if I had ever considered working for them directly,” they wrote on popular subreddit r/careerguidance.

“He said they have a role opening soon, it would be a senior title,” and the salary would be “around 35% more than what I make now,” the Redditor shared.

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The director then said, he needs “not to apply when it gets posted” and to email his application directly.

But as per the user nothing has been formally offered yet. The employee said he has not agreed to anything because he likes his current job and has “some money saved.”

So he is not desperate to jump “just because of the raise.” But he also knows that moving to the client could attract attention.

He knows too much about the client account

The employee said he is the person at his company who knows the most about the account's history. Since the client is important enough to the business, his departure will be noticed.

Then he started wondering whether exploring the opportunity without telling his employer would cross a line.

His question on Reddit was: “My biggest client offered me a job after my boss skipped our meeting. Do I tell my company?”

Reddit's advice was almost unanimous

The responses largely told him not to say anything yet. One commenter summed up the prevailing view bluntly: “Hush is the word. Loose lips sink ships.”

Another advised the employee not to tell his company because his boss could become angry either with him or with the client. “If you’re interested apply, if not then politely decline the customer director,” the commenter wrote, adding that the employee should not involve his current company either way.