Got a coworker who is very good at their job and who I respect tremendously but who just isn't happy in their current role for some very legitimate reasons. They talked to their boss (whom I also have a lot of respect for) about their concerns and then later received an email from them with some (also very legitimate) criticisms about their job performance that they told me was “nasty”.
They showed it to me and in reality, it was not only very professional and very well said, but was more importantly, also 100% accurate.
Now here's the deal. . . Losing this person will really suck for us as a company (and my team especially), but as someone who has been in their position many times before, I couldn't in good conscience tell them to stick it out or suggest talking to HR about it, because let's face it. . . No matter where you work, once HR is involved, it rarely ends well for the employee.
What would you do in this situation? (Keeping in mind that this coworker told me this in confidence and that I am not in any type of management role and shouldn't even be involved in this)
Respond back honestly to the coworker?
Let the coworker's boss know that they may have taken the email the wrong way and suggest trying to sort things out so we don't lose a good employee?
Or just do nothing and don't get involved?