The purpose of praise , at work, is to increase employee morale and employee productivity. The purpose is not to get employees to like you, or to make the employee with a bad haircut feel better. Praise is not the same as a compliment. Telling an employee that their skills at resolving customer complaints is a valuable asset to the company is praising effectively.

Target your praise to specific accomplishments, and not to general work. Praise helps reward the employee for hard work, and increases the chance that they will continue to make great presentations . Asking an employee for their input or feedback is another way to target your praise. When you ask an employee for their advice, you are praising their intelligence. In order for praise to work you need to be sincere and honest about it.

Praising an employee too frequently waters down the effectiveness of your praise; on the other hand, praising too little is also ineffective. At a minimum praise each employee once a month. Certain employees may require more praise than other employees. Adolescents generally need more praise than adults, new employees need more praise than experienced employees, and employees lacking confidence require more praise.

Public method of praise is helpful to improve the morale of all the employees. A brief mention at a meeting, a note in a company newsletter, or a note to their supervisor are all methods of simple public praise.