Introduction: Employee engagement is a key factor in work performance and employee retention. The current study seeks to examine the relationship between employee engagement and health risks and productivity.

Methods: In 2012, employees of a global financial services corporation participated in a health risk appraisal (HRA) which measured employee engagement, health risks, and on-the-job productivity loss (presenteeism). Three engagement categories were created.

Results: The highest engaged employees had significantly fewer health risk factors (69.7% overall low-risk status; 1.91 average health risks) and significantly less presenteeism (7.7%) than the mid engagement (67.9% low-risk, 1.98 risks, 9.2% presenteeism) and worst engagement (55.0% low-risk, 2.53 risks, 14.0% presenteeism) groups.

Conclusions: Work engagement appears to be good for both the organization and the individual. Organizations may wish to make use of strategies which increase employee engagement.

Copyright (C) 2017 by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine