‘Took a counteroffer 8 months ago. Don’t do what I did…’: Employee’s warning to others about accepting counteroffers after their manager’s verbal promise of a promotion never eventuates, and the company undergoes reorganization – FAIL Blog

But now they know that you wanted to leave, and that poses a risk. Cynically, all the counteroffer does is keep you around and working while they prepare to replace you. It’s not quite as simple as they give you a raise and everyone moves on with their day. Like in any relationship, when you know the other party already has one foot out the door, it changes the way that you look at the entire thing. 

So, now there’s an added, hidden cost to that counteroffer. And even if that counteroffer is higher than the other offer, the counteroffer doesn’t really mean that everything just goes back to the way it was.  Your employer might have good intentions, but like cream left on the counter for a bit too long before it was put back in the fridge, it won’t take long for those feelings to sour.

This employee shared how they got an offer from another company at the start of last year, in January. Their manager came back with a raise, matching the salary that was on offer, plus a little sweetener and a verbal promise that they would talk about that promotion finally in Q2. But by the time Q2 came around, things had moved on, and they were told that it had been pushed back to Q4. But in Q4, their manager got laid off, and suddenly, there was no one left who remembered that verbal promise, and any talk of promotion got pushed into the background. Leaving them wondering what might have happened if they had just accepted that original offer.