What do you say when someone does something fantastic that blows you away? Good job is a popular choice for teachers, parents, and bosses alike, but you’ve probably noticed that sometimes the phrase, well … doesn’t quite do a good enough job of conveying how you truly feel.
Recognizing and rewarding your employees for a job well done is vital for boosting morale increasing productivity and retaining top talent. However, finding fresh and meaningful ways to say “great job” can be challenging, especially when you want to avoid sounding repetitive or insincere.
This comprehensive guide provides 50 creative ways to say “great job” to employees, along with tips on tailoring your praise, choosing incentives, fostering teamwork and highlighting specific achievements. Read on to discover inspiring and impactful methods to acknowledge your staff’s hard work and celebrate their wins, both big and small.
Why Employee Recognition Matters
Providing regular recognition and praise for your team not only makes them feel valued but also delivers tangible benefits for your business. Here are some of the key reasons to make employee recognition a priority:
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Increases engagement and motivation Employees who feel their hard work is noticed and appreciated are more driven to continue excelling, Sincere recognition feeds their passion
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Boosts morale and job satisfaction: Simple words of affirmation make employees feel happy and proud to be part of your team. This enhances overall workplace satisfaction.
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Encourages loyalty and retention: Employees want to feel valued where they work. Recognition makes them feel invested in the company and less likely to leave.
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Improves productivity: Recognition inspires staff to maintain peak performance while constructive feedback helps them continually improve.
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Strengthens company culture: Shared celebrations promote team bonding while a culture of peer recognition reflects workplace positivity.
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Enhances employer brand: A reputation for thoughtful recognition and rewards makes your company more appealing to top talent.
How to Provide Meaningful Employee Recognition
For your praise to have maximum motivational impact, it helps to follow these best practices:
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Be specific: Identify precisely what the employee did well so they can repeat that behavior. Generic praise tends to be less memorable and meaningful.
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Share widely: Publicize recognition across teams so peers can acknowledge each other’s wins. This fosters an open culture.
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Offer incentives: Reward standout performers with concrete perks like gift cards, extra time off or fun team activities. Incentives make recognition even more valued.
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Vary methods: Mix up how you recognize staff by using creative reward ideas, not just repetitive verbal praise. Variety keeps things fresh.
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Focus on strengths: While constructive feedback has its place, make sure recognition focuses on employee talents, achievements and growth. This emphasizes the positives.
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Be timely: Provide recognition as soon as possible after the employee demonstrates the praiseworthy behavior for maximum impact. Delayed recognition may be forgotten.
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Personalize praise: Adding individual details to your recognition demonstrates you pay close attention and care about each person’s contributions.
By following these suggestions, you can make your employee recognition program truly motivating and memorable. Next, let’s explore 50 creative ways to say “great job” to your team.
50 Creative Ways to Praise Employees
1. Give public recognition
Highlight employee achievements at team meetings or in company newsletters. Praise shared publicly has an amplified motivational effect.
2. Write a thank you note
A handwritten note or email emphasizing an employee’s specific contributions adds a personal touch. Sincere written gratitude makes a meaningful memento.
3. Assign special projects
Trusting top performers with high-profile projects reflects your faith in their talents. This vote of confidence serves as powerful recognition.
4. Display employee trophies
Let employees proudly exhibit trophies, plaques or other symbolic rewards commemorating their accomplishments. Visible praise sparks motivation.
5. Offer rewards
Gift cards, movie tickets and other coveted perks make recognition even more memorable when tied to praise. Even small rewards feel special.
6. Celebrate work anniversaries
Commemorate employee tenures with signed certificates or shoutouts on annual work anniversaries. This shows their dedication matters.
7. Implement peer recognition
Peer praise is often highly valued. Let team members recognize each other’s wins through “employee of the month” awards or kudos boards.
8. Praise good attendance
Employees who maintain near-perfect attendance and punctuality should be commended. Their reliability is worth celebrating.
9. Cheer on progress
When employees put effort into developing new skills or improving work, recognize their growth and tenacity in specific, meaningful terms.
10. Share positive feedback
If customers, vendors or colleagues take the time to compliment an employee, be sure to relay the great feedback directly to them.
11. Give extra time off
What better way to say “great job” than with extra paid time for employees to relax and recharge? Even a few extra hours off can be a huge perk.
12. Post kudos on social media
With employee permission, sharing praise on your company social accounts lets you brag on their accomplishments to a wide audience.
13. Send praise emails
Send emails specifically dedicated to celebrating recent employee achievements. These positive references can be inspiring mementos.
14. Offer promotions
Promotions not only come with concrete rewards like higher pay but also serve as powerful recognition of top performers’ potential.
15. Celebrate personal milestones
Acknowledge employee life events like birthdays, marriages and births. This shows you take interest in the whole person.
16. Implement awards programs
Annual or quarterly awards like “Most Innovative Idea” or “Team Player of the Year” turn praise into lasting distinctions.
17. Send praise texts
For exceptional work, immediately sending a congratulatory text adds timely, personal acknowledgment when you’re unable to praise in person right away.
18. Share team results
When goals are met collectively, make sure to celebrate and thank the whole team to reflect that success is a group effort.
19. Plan offsite activities
Bowling, picnics, theme park trips or other celebratory team activities reinforcecompanywide recognition of top performance.
20. Provide plaque awards
Prominently display names of peak performers monthly or annually on wall plaques like “Salesperson of the Month.” Visible praise has high value.
21. Implement profit sharing
Rewarding employees financially for company profits reflects faith in their contributions to overall success. Profit sharing demonstrates real appreciation.
22. Send praise cards
Greeting cards signed by managers and peers thanking employees for specific accomplishments make recognition more personal and memorable.
23. Create a “brag board”
Post notes, photos, graphs or news clippings on bulletin boards to publicly showcase employees’ recent accomplishments within the office.
24. Offer cross-training
Being selected for training in multiple roles signals you value employees’ versatility and want to develop their skills further.
25. Treat to lunch
An invitation to eat out with leadership is not only an enjoyable perk but also makes employees feel individually valued.
26. Send praise emails to families
With permission, email employees’ families sharing recent achievements. Including relatives amplifies the recognition.
27. Implement peer mentoring
Assign top performers to coach and guide newer team members. The opportunity to mentor is itself a rewarding form of recognition.
28. Surprise with gifts
An unexpected gift like a gift basket left on their desk makes a great job feel like a truly outstanding accomplishment.
29. Praise at office gatherings
Sharing accolades during all-hands meetings or other company gatherings gives exposure and impact to recognizing achievements.
30. Spot bonus rewards
An unexpected financial bonus tied to a specific recent win makes a powerful statement on the value of an employee’s efforts.
31. Flexible scheduling
Providing leeway in choosing work hours and telecommuting privileges serves as compelling recognition for dedicated employees.
32. stocks and profit sharing
Offering company stock and adding employees to profit-sharing plans conveys your faith in them to contribute to future success.
33. Custom awards
Specialized trophies and plaques engraved with employee names and accomplishments add meaningful personalization and lasting significance.
34. Assign mentees
Being designated to mentor new hires reflects respect, trust in interpersonal skills and faith in the wisdom of experienced employees.
35. Office status symbols
Upgraded offices, reserved parking spots or nameplates are status perks that silently signal to peers the distinction of top performers.
36. Delegate key duties
Entrusting employees with greater responsibilities demonstrates faith in their competencies and your belief in their potential.
37. Company clothing
Providing shirts with the company logo serves as walking advertisement for model employees. Branded apparel conveys belonging.
38. Kid-friendly events
Company picnics, holiday parties and other events including family make employees feel valued on multiple levels.
39. Share feedback surveys
If feedback surveys submitted by colleagues praise specific workers, be sure to pass along that positive commentary directly to them.
40. Assign mentors
What to say instead of good job
There are lots of vocabulary options when it comes to offering praise, but some phrases are simply too general to seem sincere. We’ve all been on the receiving end of a good for you or nice job that didn’t feel quite genuine enough or specific enough to express real appreciation. And while words like wonderful and amazing are certainly more descriptive than good or nice, they’re also overused and most likely to be found in vague comments on Instagram.
So, what should you say instead? Keep reading for some go-to words and phrases you may have forgotten about that will help you shower exactly the right kind of praise on the rockstars in your life.
The word kudos was first recorded in English in the mid-1820s, and like many other words we love, we got it from the Greeks. Kudos is a transliteration of the Greek k?dos meaning “praise or renown.” It was first used mainly in academia, but it got a boost in popularity during the 1920s thanks to its frequent appearance in journalistic headlines.
Kudos is a singular noun that means “honor; glory; acclaim,” but because it ends with an -s, which typically signifies a plural in English, it’s often used like a plural noun to mean “accolades.” Both uses are acceptable.
Try this:
- Kudos on the great presentation, Ana!
- Let’s give kudos to everyone who read their poem out loud in class today.
- Andrew deserves kudos for his brilliant idea.
Take it up a notch, and go with phenomenal. Something that’s phenomenal isn’t just good, it’s “highly extraordinary or prodigious.” The word, of course, is a form of phenomenon, from Late Latin phaenomenon, or “appearance.” It was recorded in English by at least 1825, and it’s a less common synonym of good that tells people just how impressive and exceptional their work really is.
Try this:
- That was a phenomenal effort!
- It’s really phenomenal how you took the lead on that project.
Bravo, or its feminine form brava, is a classic interjection that’s been used in English to praise great performances since at least the 1700s. In Italian, bravo means “courageous or wild.” In English, it’s typically used to mean “well done.” If you’re feeling especially wowed, you might even consider pulling out a bravissimo. The suffix -issimo means “extremely” or “remarkably, ” so saying bravissimo is one way to let people know the project or performance they just executed was extremely well done.
Try this:
- Brava, Ruth! That was a fantastic effort.
- Bravissimo! You really took that essay to the next level.
- Bravo, team. I’m so proud of the work you’re doing.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t give a little shout-out to shout-out. This informal noun has only been around since the ’90s, but it’s carved out a place as a unique expression of praise that’s sure to stick around for decades to come. A shout-out is an expression of thanks or admiration. It functions in a similar way to kudos, and it can be used to share personal gratitude or as a way of calling attention to the great work of individuals in a public setting. Shoutout is also an accepted spelling.
Try this:
- Shout-out to Rashida for staying late to get that report finished!
- Let’s give a shoutout to Jane’s mom for reading to the class.
Nailed it is “an expression used to comment on the successful, skillful, or clever completion or performance of something.” The phrase is more popular than ever, but it actually dates back to the 1970s. Late in 2010, the forum r/NailedIt on Reddit was launched, celebrating spectacular failures with the caption nailed it. It revived the term and gave it a second life as sarcastic way of making light of an epic fail (see: the popular Netflix show “Nailed It” with Nicole Byer).
Even though the meaning of the phrase has expanded, its original usage hasn’t disappeared. It’s still frequently used in a way that’s completely genuine to show that someone did, in fact, nail what they were trying to do.
Try this:
- I had high expectations, and you really nailed it.
- Wow, Michelle, you absolutely nailed that speech!
- That last point you made in the meeting? Nailed it!
What’s even better than a good job? A stellar job. Stellar was first recorded in English in the mid-1600s as an adjective that means “of or relating to the stars; consisting of stars.” Its usage has expanded to describe situations pertaining to a preeminent performer or athlete, and now it’s frequently used to mean “outstanding or immense.” Stellar is one of many synonyms for good that pack a little more of a punch, such as marvelous, superb, wonderful, and exceptional.
Try this:
- Stellar work on your science project, Aisha.
- That was a stellar proposal you pet together, Jared!
When something is exceptionally fantastic, you might say it’s on fire. No, we don’t mean anything is literally on fire. In this case, on fire means “excited” or “excellent.” It can be used to describe things that inspire you or inflame your passions. You can also use the word fire on its own as an adjective to mean “cool, excellent, exciting, etc,” as in, That’s a fire idea.
Try this:
- Matilda, you are on fire this week!
- Rob is on fire with great ideas for the rollout.
Impressive means “having the ability to impress the mind; arousing admiration, awe, respect, etc.; moving; admirable.” In other words, it’s kind of a big deal. It was first recorded in the late 1500s, and is related to the Latin imprimere, meaning “to press into or upon, impress.”
Try this:
- You made a really impressive effort in class today.
- That was an impressive argument. It really made me think.
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15 Ways to Say “Good Job” in English
How do you say a good job?
“Excellent job on your task.” “Thank you for helping. Your efforts are contributing to the project.” “Wow, you’re completing truly impressive work.” “Congratulations on the work you’re completing. It’s really well done.” “Outstanding job!” “You’re a fast learner.” “Wow, [Colleague’s name], you’re so good at what you do.”
How do you say “good job”?
101 WAYS TO SAY “GOOD JOB” You’ve got it made! Sensational! You’re doing fine. Super! You’ve got your brain in gear today. Good thinking. That’s right! That’s better. Good going. That’s good! Excellent! Wonderful! You are very good at that. That was first class work. That’s a real work of art. Good work! That’s the best ever. Superb! Exactly right!
How do you say a good job to a colleague?
“Good job!” Sometimes, all you need is a classic. A simple “good job” can show that you noticed their hard work and you appreciate it. “Job well done!” Similar to “good job”, “job well done” is another straightforward phrase that acknowledges a colleague’s effort. “Keep up the outstanding work!”
How do you say “good job” in a sentence?
In this case, you can say “good job” when you mean to praise someone for doing something successfully. For example, a student who passed a hard exam did a “good job” or a child who cleaned their room did a “good job” or a friend who got the number of a cute girl at a bar did a “good job.” Someone who did a “good job” accomplished something.
