I accepted a counteroffer ten months ago. Learn from my mistake.

I know the usual advice is that you should never accept counteroffers. I accepted one anyway. And this is what happened.

I got an offer in March from another company: a better role, higher salary, hybrid, and barely any days in the office. I'd been at my current place for four years and was just coasting. Not suffering, not excited, but feeling like I was standing still. I told my manager I was going to submit my resignation, they asked for 72 hours, and came back with a salary match plus a small raise, and a verbal promise that we'd talk about a promotion in Q3.

I said no to the other offer. People here and a few people in my real life told me it was a bad move. I did it anyway because I wanted to believe the promotion would finally happen, and honestly, it felt good to think they had finally noticed the work I'd been doing for four years.

Q3 came. No mention of a promotion. I brought it up and was told planning had been pushed to Q1. Fine, okay, annoying but not shocking. Q1 came, we had an awkward conversation with no clear next step, and then there was a restructuring in December, my manager left, my work got folded into a larger department, and the promotion path basically disappeared as if no one had ever mentioned it before.

Out of curiosity, I checked on the other company later. They had filled the role about three weeks after I turned them down. Of course they had.

I'm not even that upset about the restructuring. Companies do company things. What bothers me is that I don't feel like the promotion was ever real in the first place. They gave me the raise because it was cheaper than replacing me and easier than being honest. Everything else was just empty talk.

So yeah. If you have a counteroffer in front of you right now, the money is probably the real part. Anything else, I'd ask how much of it is in writing before you bet your next move on it.