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Is "keep up the good work" a polite thing to say to your co-workers? I'm under impression that only someone from higher position has the privilege to say this.

When replying the emails to a co-worker, who is not a subordinate of yours, is "keep up the good work" a proper phrase in this case?

What other praises I could use to express my sincere respect on what they have achieved, instead of a perfunctory "good job!"?

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    "Keep up the good work" is typically said to a subordinate by their manager whose job it is to rate that employee's performance. "Nice one!", "Way to go!", or simply "Nice!" are compliments you can give a peer, IMO, and I'm sure the younger folks have acceptable expressions also.
    – Kristina Lopez
    Commented Nov 30, 2015 at 21:55
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    "Not bad!" is very high praise. "Keep up the good work." spoken with irony as if from an out-of-touch boss, is pretty good too. Last time I commented on Br use of irony to avoid embarrassment when giving praise I was downvoted repeatedly. english.stackexchange.com/questions/251795/…
    – Hugh
    Commented Nov 30, 2015 at 22:01
  • I find it trivially easy to imagine any number of scenarios in which I'd use "keep up the good work" when talking not just to a co-worker, but indeed a close friend, or even my wife. As to other alternatives, there are hundreds. And I mean hundreds. You can think of a dozen right away. You've already thought of one. Why do you need two? The one will do.
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Dec 8, 2015 at 16:41

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