Boosting employee morale is essential to promote motivation in the workplace. This is accomplished by commending employees who go above and beyond to perform exceptionally. When an employee is worthy of praise, make the commendation public so that other people within your organization become aware of the employee's efforts. This motivates the employee being commended to keep doing a good job and inspires others to do better, mostly those employees who want to get ahead within the organization. There are guidelines you must follow to ensure that your praise has a positive and encouraging impact.

Identify the specific reason that you are commending the employee. For instance, you might be commending him for his work or achievement, qualities he possesses that achieve high standards or for his contribution to a project or task.

Praise the employee's work rather than her directly. For instance, instead of saying, "You're a smart customer service representative," say, "You were extremely dedicated to helping the customer." By praising her work rather than her persona, you are promoting motivation, perseverance and performance.

Come up with a phrase that commends what the employee did or accomplished. For example, if you are commending him for his work or achievement, you can say, "I want to commend you for the outstanding work on the project"; for the high standards his qualities achieve, you can say, "Your ability to motivate the team to work in harmony helped complete the project before the deadline," or if you are commending him for his contribution, you can say, "Your devotion and thoroughness are greatly appreciated."

Commend the employee publicly. You can do it in person or by sending a mass email to the whole company. If you do it in person, gather your personnel in the break room, conference room, cubicle area or in an area you find appropriate for this type of occasion.

Use the phrase you came up with to commend the employee. If you do it in person, prepare a small speech that explains to other employees why you are gathered together and then commend the employee in front of everyone. If you do it via email, address the email to the employee you are commending and write the phrase you came up with, plus elaborate by explaining exactly what the employee did to deserve the praise. End the commendation with phrases such as "Keep up the good work" or "We really appreciate you" to encourage the employee to keep doing a good job.

Give the employee a reward such as a gift card to a restaurant or coffee shop or tickets to a sports event. If you give a reward, make other employees aware of this. Knowing that a reward was given to the employee who went above and beyond will motivate other employees to do better.

Tip

Be honest when commending an employee, phony praises will not boost employee morale nor will they motivate others to do a better job.