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I usually feel confused when someone thanks me for my work at the workplace. In my view, work is what I am supposed to do, and it is my duty.
It's difficult for me to respond in a way that makes sense to me. I usually just say "You're welcome" as a response.
How should I respond to people thanking me for my work, professionally?
Most of the time in work I get confused when someone thanks for my work
There's nothing to be confused, you should be happy, not for the "thank you" words, rather for the fact that you work with colleagues / superiors who appreciate your effort / work.
Remember, a thank you is not always objective, many a times it is a way of showing appreciation for the overall effort, not only for the outcome alone. It's a good gesture.
You can respond with "Welcome" and a smile, no problems. Alternatively, you can also say something along the lines
"Hey, thank you too for helping me out in achieving this"
or,
"Glad it helped, that means I'm doing good work"
or,
"Mention not, that's just the job"
or simply,
"My Pleasure"
based on the applicability. Any or all of the above are ways to accept and appreciate the appreciation you received. It's just good gesture.
Don't be nervous / confused, be happy.
I noticed that sometimes (always?) something like "You're welcome!" is good, but is not the best approach. You received something (thanks), so you want to give something in return.
My shortest answer would be in the tune of:
"Thank you for noticing!"
But I would also add something like:
"It makes me feel better that my efforts are useful!"
You can go one step forward by being proactive and add:
"Please do not hesitate to tell me in the future how I can improve even more!"
Most important: do not forget to smile sincerely to that person. Do not force the smile or the words, just be natural. If emotions hit you, there is no problem to just be silent for 1-2-3 seconds, before you provide the answer. The trick with the waiting always works for me.
Whatever else you do:
SMILE!
You have been complimented on your work. This should make you happy!
That's Personal Relations 101.
You say your job is just what you are supposed to do and what you get paid for anyway.
That my be true, but you may not have realised that some people are much better at this than others. If I need something from a colleague, there are some where I ask them and explain exactly what I need and an hour later it is there. And there are others where you get an angry “what do you want”, who spend three times longer looking for reasons why they can’t help you than it would take them to do it, and who are generally dreadful to work with.
If people thank you, that shows you are in the first category. Good for you. Just make sure that your manager knows that people appreciate your work. It’s a sad fact that if you do just do things without people having to work hard to make you do it, that is often appreciated less. So you are doing a good job, tell others.
