Petitioning is referred to as a "Dive and Save" internally. It is a last ditch offer to retain an employee, usually reserved for high performers who are seen as a flight risk.
A caveat there is, proactive dive and save is reserved for high performers who are seen as a flight risk Reactive dive and save is for anybody who can show a competing offer.
Slightly OT, but someone should set-up an (anonymous enough) wiki somewhere with all of this big IT company jargon, would make for interesting reading. Threads like this one, coupled with that Google comic written by an employee that was full of those jargons would make for a good start.
