Risk, risk, risk. It seems like a new one materializes in my inbox each week.

I don’t want to add to your list of insomnia sources, unless there’s a viable threat. So, let’s consider the following risks more of a radar-screen update: Are they on your company’s risk radar?

These topics – environmental performance and employee engagement – are quite different. The first tends to receive too much attention (not that it doesn’t deserve much attention, but its very nature tends to arouse an emotional response). The second risk, declining levels of employee engagement, receives too little attention.

Newsweek recently released its inaugural “Greenest Big Companies in America” rankings.

One suspects Newsweek would like to see this annual ranking achieve the sort of buzz that Fortune magazine’s annual lists (e.g., “Best Companies to Work for”) receive. And while neither Fortune nor Newsweek publishes “Worst Companies to Work for” or “Most Unsustainable Company” lists (hey, there’s an idea – an “unsustainable” list based on shoddy risk-management practices; although hedge funds already do this to some degree), the media play these rankings receive focuses greater attention on these corporate areas.

The impact of the second risk of the week in my inbox is even more difficult to track than corporate environmental practices. It also may be exert a more troubling impact on the bottom line.

A new WatsonWyatt/WorldatWork survey finds that employee engagement levels, for all workers in the U.S., have dropped by 9 percent since last year. More disconcerting: Engagement levels of top performers, your most valuable workers, dropped by a whopping 25 percent.

“The fallout from the actions employers have taken in response to the recession is now coming to light, and it is significant,” said Laura Sejen, global director of strategic rewards consulting at Watson Wyatt. “Having less engaged and committed workers is a major concern for employers. This could have a long-lasting and detrimental impact on productivity, quality, and customer service, as well as [lead to] an increase in the risk of companies losing their best employees.”

Here is a summary and key findings. ###