Maybe your employees have been conditioned to expect praise when they work hard, and do not currently have the opportunity to develop their intrinsic motivation

Maybe your employees have been conditioned to expect praise when they work hard, and do not currently have the opportunity to develop their intrinsic motivation to do good work. Just because drug addicts become needy without their supply, doesn't mean they should juice up. Analogously, just because people become demotivated due to lack praise (or other reasons), does not mean praise is necessary to boost their performance. It might just be a sign there is an unaddressed problem.