No matter how successful your business is, there will inevitably be times where you and your employees hit a productivity slump. Sometimes this is as a result of employee turnover. Sometimes it’s from decreased sales. Or sometimes it’s just simply because winter is approaching and everyone’s energy has diminished.

Whatever the reason, it’s not fun. Not for the employee, and definitely not for your bottom line.

The good news though is that slumps are fairly easy to break out of. With a few simple tips and with the help of your intranet, you can easily be on your way to a productive and engaged workforce. Here’s how:

Hold a Contest on your Intranet

Contests have an uncanny ability to get people excited and energized. The subject doesn’t need to be overly complicated and it’s worth playing around with a few ideas. For example, if you feel like your employees don’t know each other, hold a quiz to identify 12 random employees from a staff photo. Or maybe it’s a contest where your marketing department shares different art concepts and employees get to pick their favourite. Or maybe it’s even something as silly as a contest to predict which employee will be the best dancer at an upcoming holiday party.

Feature a New Employee

Sometimes we don’t talk internally because we don’t know who every employee is. Consider writing a feature story each week on a different employee. This will keep employees connected to their workplace and will help increase motivation. Make sure you include some random and creative information questions as well--like their favorite breakfast cereal or their guilty pleasure.

Launch a New Campaign

When business is stagnant and employees are bored, it’s time to shake things up a little in the marketing and product department. One of the best ways to do this is by launching brand new marketing campaigns. This could involve a new logo, a new email campaign, or even a new website. Fresh campaigns and ideas can go a long way to motivate your team. You can also use your intranet to get the word out and encourage employees to share the campaign on their own social media platforms.

Conduct an Employee Survey

Even if you are sure your productivity slump is no cause for concern, it’s still a good idea to ‘check in’ with employees. One of the easiest ways to do this is through an employee survey. Publicize the survey on your intranet and encourage as much feedback as possible. Be sure to make the survey anonymous, so employees feel unrestricted in their responses. Once the survey is over, be sure to share results or high level insights with your employees. It’s also smart to share with employees any plans for how the feedback will be incorporated into company changes.

Share More News

Often employees feel unproductive or unsatisfied because they feel out of the loop, or under communicated to. Use your intranet to share as much as possible. Employee news, corporate events, new products or services, or news from your leadership are all worthy of sharing.  Assuming your intranet has analytics of some sort, you will quickly be able to see which news items enticed your employees, and which ones were unpopular.