Years ago I went for an internal promotion in a company I'd been with for more than a decade. It had essentially been promised to me, but at the last minute it was given to a man who was part of the all-boys-club culture of the time.
The new promotion role was part of a company restructure and mostly managerial meaning the new employee took over managing my team (but not me).
What they hadn't accounted for was the bonus aspect of our salaries.
New man spent so much time managing and training a large number of employees, he never hit his targets, despite working ridiculously long hours.
I, on the other hand with no staff to manage, suddenly had lots more time to focus on my clients, smashed every target, whilst leaving at 5pm on the dot every day (something I'd never been able to do previously).
I had the highest salary of my life that year; I was paid considerably more than many of the senior staff.
The next year I was pregnant and before they could change the bonus structure, they had to pay my maternity pay - a percentage of my overall earnings from the previous year (so again a massive pay out).
Then the company was bought out and I had the opportunity to take redundancy, which I did as my husband had just taken a job which involved moving. My redundancy was based on my last annual salary and again was massive, allowing me to take several years off to be a SAHM.
Had I got that "promotion" all I actually would have got was a flashy job title, shit pay, a lot of stress and some long working hours.