Employee Appreciation Letter

Employers cannot always afford to give their employees salary increases when they want to or when the employees deserve them. This makes it all the more important to write an employee appreciation letter to a loyal worker who performs his or her job tasks over and above what is minimally expected. The letter can be sent or delivered to the employee and a copy should be placed in the employee’s personnel file.

Format and Content

Include the employee’s full name and title in the employee appreciation letter format. The letter is most impressive if it comes from someone very high in the organization’s hierarchy such as the CEO or company president. This lets the employee know that results of hard work are recognized and appreciated by top management. The letter may address a particular event, positive comments from customers or an overall exemplary job on day-to-day responsibilities.

Sample

This employee appreciation letter sample is written by a company CEO to a factory foreman who handled a disaster at the factory. An explosion occurred resulting in a fire. The foreman fought the fire while contacting emergency responders and giving evacuation orders resulting in no injuries and minimal property damage.

Dear Mr. Anderson,

Although we had a ceremony and gave you a public commendation for your valiant behavior in handling the October 15, 2013 fire, I wanted to send you a personal letter of appreciation. Your calm and collected response to the explosion and ensuing fire saved the lives of your employees and co-workers and also prevented any injuries. There is no way for me to put a price on the lives and safety of the employees of ABC Industries. The courage you showed during the crisis was unparalleled and, speaking on behalf of myself and the rest of the management, we owe you the utmost gratitude.

As far as the material costs are concerned, we can say that you saved the company anywhere from a minimum of $350,000 by extinguishing the fire and preventing its spread in which it might have completely destroyed the equipment, to over $1 million if the fire had spread to engulf the entire building. Your amazing ability to simultaneously use the fire extinguisher on the fire, verbally direct an emergency evacuation and have one of your supervisors call 911 was nothing short of amazing. I want to make sure that you know how much the company appreciates your bravery and highly professional response to a serious emergency in your department.

A copy of this letter of appreciation will be placed in your permanent employment file in the Human Resources Department. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

With Sincere Gratitude,

Henry Gray

Henry F. Gray

CC: Brenda M. Star

Director

Human Resources Department

ABC Industries, Inc.