I had 6 weeks of annual leave saved up. Im changing to a job that pays significantly more than my current salary. When my boss asked me what it would take to stay, I asked for a salary increase of 35% which he begrudingly gave me. Then I quit. This equated to an entitlement payout of about $10,700 instead of $8000 on my previous rate, an extra $2700. And the new job still pays more than the increased rate I asked for.
Not a smart boss or HR department. A proper way to do this would be to give you a small raise plus a generous lump sum up front, but require you to work for 1 year or pay back that lump sum if you leave before a year is up.
The only makes sense if they actually wanted to keep him that long after he tried to quit. We don’t know for sure but potentially they just wanted to keep him around long enough to find a replacement (since he just told them he’s quitting).
An actually smart boss would pay employees you want to keep a generous salary instead of waiting to freak out when they try to leave for a better job
If you agree to “pay your employer”, then you’re a fool.