A friend asked me for advice, and I don't know how to advise her. I have tried to change the details to make them unidentifiable, but would really value some views on here.
She is senior manager in a private company employing approx 100 people. One of the middle managers posted on the company Facebook (a fairly innocuous post about some initiative they are doing), but at the end made some comment about
The post is visible to the entire organisation, but not to clients.
She doesn't cultivate a jokey persona at work, isn't friends with this individual, and there is no history of animosity. He isn't a direct report to her, and she is in a specialised field, so he couldn't be angling for her job. She has no idea what has prompted this, but feels it is a deliberate attempt to undermine her and to besmirch her standing within the company.
My friend raised it with her boss and HR, who have basically put the ball in her court, saying 'what do you want to do, do you want to raise a grievance?'.
If it was me, I would have spoken to him immediately, asked him wtf he thought he was doing, and told him if it ever happened again I would be making a formal complaint, but I'm quite arsey direct, and I work in the public sector, so I think it is quite a different culture with a lot more job security.
Part of me thinks it is wrong to put the ball in her court. It was an inappropriate and unprofessional comment, and a misuse of the work system, and I would think that the senior management team would want to address it to make sure a culture of snide digs at management didn't develop. Given this individual is a middle manager, people will be looking to him for a cue as to what is acceptable.
How would you suggest my friend should deal with it?