It's always puzzled me why many tech companies seem so reluctant to give counter-offers to departing employees. Trying to pay as little as possible and not easily giving raises, even to their most productive employees, is at least somewhat understandable. But if a valuable employee is about to leave, possibly taking some critical knowledge with them, you'd think that a 50% raise should be on the table out of pure self-interest. So why doesn't this usually happen? Is it just part of keeping up the charade (a big raise is a tacit admission that they have been underpaying massively)? Is it to increase the barrier to negotiations (you have to actually leave rather than just get an offer)? Is it because HR people get more points for bringing in "new talent" rather than keeping the current workforce? Or is it just that neither HR nor management have any clue who their critical employees are, so they are unable to prioritize?