Good advice on the "counter offer". The trust is broken, and the working environment can never be the same again. It is like living with your ex after you have broken up.

Do you have past experiences or reasons to share for your view on never accepting a counter offer?

Common wisdom is that it creates a bad environment, but I think it has a lot to do with your personality type, I have accepted counter offers before and it has been fine, but I am a pretty open and honest person, people know where they stand with me and they know that I will take a significantly higher compensation package if all other things are equal. I usually lay that out in the initial interview, I tell my potential employer that I expect to be compensated at market rate, and to remain compensated at market rate, that I will occasionally check the market to verify and that I will always give them first right of refusal should I find a discrepancy. I think educating people on how to maintain your loyalty has a lot to do with how the situation turns out.

On a slightly tangential note, when I worked for other companies, I was generally regarded as a loyal employee, all things being equal I would rather stay with a company I know, as there are a lot of unknowns in switching companies, I was always upfront about this fact, but I was also upfront about a large discrepancy in compensation being a factor that could compromise that loyalty. Giving people the tools to maintain loyalty helps employers clearly see what they need to do to maintain personnel.

Well put in the most succinct possible way. Thanks!