Offers of more money are often not enough to retain staff in a competitive labour market.
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A survey by online job search firm Seek has found only a quarter (26 percent) of candidates would accept a counter offer from an existing employer and for those that do, more than half (57 percent) would leave their job within a year.
Money was a consideration, with more than half of employees expecting their employer to offer a wage increase of at least 10 percent, or an improvement in their job and a pay rise to match.
The tight labour market and skills shortage was a challenge for would-be employers, with record low unemployment of 3.2 percent and annual wage growth the strongest since 2009.
Seek career coach Leah Lambart said most departing staff were not necessarily looking for more than money.
"Often people feel underappreciated in their roles ... a lack of career progression ... non financial reasons, like lack of flexibility ... a move up the career ladder, or just a change," Lambart said.
Accepting a counter offer also carried risks in the workplace, such as a negative reaction from other employees, with 10 percent of those surveyed feeling counter offers were unacceptable, while just 12 percent reacted favourably to another colleague receiving a counter offer.
Lambart said there were also risks for employees to consider when accepting a counter offer, which could potentially be damaging to their workplace relationships.
"And one of the reasons is that it can erode trust and confidence between the employee and their manager as they obviously know then that the person is perhaps not as loyal as they thought they were."