The holiday season is a wonderful time to express gratitude for family, friends, and your employees. In a survey of over 200,000 employees, recognition and appreciation for a job well done ranked higher than base salary as a factor of on-the-job happiness. Make sure your employees feel appreciated with our list of the top five most unique ways to thank your workers this holiday season.

1. Create a holiday
   If Amazon can create Amazon Prime Day—a holiday in honor of buying things—there is no reason why you likewise can’t transform a workday into a celebration of recognition for an employee or department for their continued hard work and sacrifice. Having decorations, a scheduled lunch, or even special activities planned can make the day feel unique and special.
2. Name a room in the office
   In the same way being on a university campus is a tour through the legends of academia, so too could your workplace be transformed into a tour of your staff’s accomplishments. The “Phil T. Johnson, Lunchroom of Excellence,” is a playful way to honor your staff and create opportunities to recognize exceptional players. Make sure to include a plaque and a picture to ensure that proper recognition is etched for all time—or, until the following month when you might choose to recognize another person’s accomplishments, as well.
3. Traveling reward
   Similar to alternating the naming of a room in an office in honor of an exceptional performer, you might also decide to create a traveling award as a physical token of acknowledgement. Creating an award that is passed from one employee to the next is a quirky and unique office tradition that your employees are sure to appreciate.
4. Organize a presentation on one of your big achievers
   Poll your staff on what they like about any given coworker. Then, mock up a brief presentation as a way to describe and highlight the accomplishments and affability of an exceptional member of your team. Mocking up a legitimate presentation with a very light-hearted purpose of recognizing a coworker is a unique way of highlighting someone’s accomplishments and showing your appreciation for all their hard work. Make sure to include pie charts.
5. An unexpected gift
   Showing a member of your staff that you care can also be as simple as gifting them something personalized and unexpected. Demonstrating that you understand them as an individual—their hobbies, interests, and likes—is a great way of showing that you value their work as an employer.

It is easy to become complacent in expressing gratitude. This holiday season, don’t leave it to assumption—recognizing your workforce’s personal sacrifices is a proven component of mitigating employee turnover and retaining your best employees. In Hawaii’s tight talent climate, making an effort to retain and nurture talent might just be the most important investment a company can make.