Advice please: how can I ensure a promotion offer is honoured?

[Jynxed]

After many years of being the backbone of the office, but over looked due to being part time, I got my act together and applied for and got another job elsewhere.

This has led to a very gratifying tizzy at management level and they have offered me promotion if I stay.

The problem is this. I must confirm my decision to the potential new employer tomorrow, and the current one has only made me a verbal offer of promotion. Before I turn down the new job I want something cast iron from my boss (or better still, his boss).

My question is, will an email offer be binding, or should I be insisting on something else? What do I need to ensure I am not let down once I have turned down the other job?

Many thanks in advance.

Ask for the offer in writing. An email will do.

Are you sure it's right to stay put?

Thanks. I have asked for the offer in writing, but was not sure if an email would be binding if I had to pursue it.

The other job would involve commuting to London and take over an hour each way. It would also take up most of the pay rise in train costs. That is why I would prefer to stay put, as otherwise I would welcome the new opportunity.

What would promotion at your current job actually mean? Would it be a new role with new responsibilities, or just a job title? Would you get more money?

Did you go for the other job just to leave this one, or to go that one? Meaning, will it be more of the same, or will it mean more challenges, more responsibility, useful experience?

Unless there's something that definitely puts you off the new job, (I turned one down in similar circumstances, because it would have been a fairly grim commute, and the office had no natural light, which would be a big issue for me, plus although it was a payrise, the commute would have wiped that out in petrol costs,) I would probably cut your loses and go.

Even if you do get the promotion at your current place, if they've overlooked you for years, they're likely to expect you to be eternally grateful for whatever you get. Plus they'll know you aren't really convinced about moving, so know they can get away with taking you for granted in future.

In the end, only you can make the decision, but I'd weigh up all the pros and cons of staying and going - I've been pushing for promotion mostly because it would be some acknowledgement of all the things I do, but with us, it would just be a job title change, from sys admin to senior sys admin. It wouldn't really change anything; I wouldn't even get a payrise, just be on a payscale with a higher upper limit, but as each grade covers a range of about £20000 and overlap by several thousand, it wouldn't make a practical difference, as I'm not at the top of my current grade.

Thanks EBear, some good points to think about there. Will ponder over night and respond tomorrow when a bit more awake!

Email confirmation is fine, but I would expect it to state new job title, new salary, effective date and ideally attach a new job description or at least some information about what the new responsibilities attached to the promotion are. Otherwise you are not making an informed decision.

I would agree with others, think carefully about staying with a company at which you've had to get an offer from elsewhere to extract a promotion you deserve.