Gratitude at work can feel awkward if it is forced into a formal program nobody asked for, but it tends to land well when it stays specific and low-key: a genuine thank you for a particular piece of help, mentioned soon after it happened rather than saved for a quarterly review nobody quite trusts.
Public recognition has its place, but private, specific gratitude, a quick message naming exactly what someone did and why it mattered, often means more to the recipient and feels less like a performance for an audience. The specificity is what makes it feel genuine rather than procedural.
Teams where this kind of gratitude flows in more than one direction, not only from managers downward, tend to report a stronger sense of being noticed and valued, which research consistently links to better morale and lower turnover, regardless of how formal or informal the gratitude practice actually is.