This is a survey on employee engagement level in hospitals of a rural district of India to find out the influencing
factors and propose a strategic model. Methods/Analysis: Among the 11 public and 80 private hospitals, stratified random
and disproportionate convenience sampling techniques were used to select the 35 hospitals and the 506 respondents. All
levels of employees were included unlike the earlier researches conducted. An existing standard Employee Engagement
questionnaire combined with a customer perception questionnaire was administered. In analysis, Descriptive and Multiple
Regression were used. Findings: The present levels of engagement are 82.51% and customers are the most influencing
factor for engagement. From the available research reports it is found in India the fully engaged employees are in the region
of 9 to 17 % and the level of engagement is just above 70 %. The high level of engagement is different from various reports.
The study has provided insights and information about employee engagement in hospitals so that the administrators can
develop and implement strategies to improve the same thereby increasing employee commitment, service quality and
customer satisfaction. Novelty/Improvement: A strategic model to improve the engagement level is proposed and thus
the ultimate social contribution to provide better healthcare service to the people will be achieved.