I am guessing the answer here would be both cultural and professional approach. But here is the issue:

I am in USA with a big company (~400 employees). Annually, we get performance reviews from the management (bonuses and raises), and we also get autonomous voting activity where each employee votes for a best team member through out the year. After voting deadline, winners from departments will get announced publicly and will receive rewards.

My question is, once I submit my vote along with the "why did you vote for this person" paragraph to the management, how would it look like if I go ahead and send a complete copy to the actual person I voted for? If it is ok to do, do I do it before the voting deadline or after?

Why I am doing this? As a sign of showing appreciation, I am guessing that it would be great to show them that I am voting for them, like a "thank you again" kind of thing, or "let's keep up the good work". They could also use that as a recommendation reference maybe.

  • Are you close, or do you speak or relate to this person often? – DarkCygnus Nov 13 '18 at 17:19
  • @DarkCygnus We never contact outside of work, but we work very closely though since we are in the same team. Pair programming, daily stand ups and meetings, designing features, supporting clients ... etc. We speak personal stuff sometimes but I can not call anyone a "friend", just co-workers but close co-workers. – Sandra K Nov 13 '18 at 17:22
  • 1
    So, you do speak often then. Thanks for calrifying – DarkCygnus Nov 13 '18 at 17:23
  • @JoeStrazzere Well, it depends if I told them before the voting deadline or after, no? – Sandra K Nov 13 '18 at 17:56


Like you said, it would depend on some things. If you two are close, or know each other and interact on a regular basis, doing this would be OK I believe.

On the other hand, if you seldom speak or relate to each other, sending that would seem a bit out of place, and that person may be confused on why you are sending them that (on a more negative scenario, even wonder what are your true intents or if you will expect something in return).

If you wan to express appreciation towards this person, a simple "hey, I voted for you, thanks for everything you've taught me this year" could also work. But, again, if you know each other sending the exact works won't seem bad or out of place.

As for using your words for recommendation letter I doubt it (unless you were this person's boss or similar). But if this person constantly gets good reviews then that would be worth mentioning on a resume.


In situations like this, I normally email their boss and cc them.

I think as do you, it's nice for the employee as well as their manager to have visibility into kind words. By copying the employee and sending it to their manager you:

  • Avoid any expectation from the employee in return (vs direct sending it to them)
  • Provide visibility to their manager
  • But why email the boss? Would not that look like I am "managing up" by showing the boss (as if I did it just to show the boss)? The votes submission went to HR. – Sandra K Nov 13 '18 at 20:13

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