Exploring Employee Engagement, Globalization, and Christian Worldview and Discussion Replies: Exploring Job Design, Staffing, and Christian Worldview, include a references section, and be sure to have in-text citations for the following sources:
• At least 1 citation from Valentine: Human Resource Management.
• At least 1 citation from Hardy: The Fabric of this World: Inquiries into Calling, Career Choice, and the Design of Human Work.
• At least 1 citation from a related scholarly journal.

In December of 2021, CNBC reported that there are currently 11 million job openings in the US (Liu, 2021). Some attribute the significant number of openings to the “great resignation,” others attribute it to the ongoing Covid pandemic, and the Omicron variant continuing to inflict damage on the economy. The impact of the labor shortage in the US has contributed to the ongoing supply chain issues, rising wages, and ultimately, has contributed to the inflationary pressures the country has not seen since the 1970s.

This has led Human Resource (HR) departments to rethink their strategies as they attempt to recruit and retain top talent in their organizations. One of the demographic groups that HR departments should consider, as they seek to retain and recruit top talent is the older worker, 55 years of age and older. Our text notes that during the period, 1996 through 2016, those aged 55 years and older increased from 11.9 percent of the workforce, to 22.4 percent (Valentine et al., 2019). In recent research from (Kim & Kang, 2016), the authors examined the level of engagement at work for older employees. The research goal was to debunk the myth that a graying or older workforce translates into less employee engagement. Their work included input from 613 employees over the age of 55. The findings showed that the engagement of older workers actually increases as they age. The authors felt that the increasing engagement scores were due in part to the ability of older workers to regulate their emotions. Overall, they point out that older workers gain more skill sets as they age and maintain a career identity.

As organizations work through the challenges of recruiting and retaining key talent during this current environment, one of the key steps they must take is to continually brand their organization as an employer of choice. This topic was addressed in a recent article (“Towards Improved Employee Retention,” 2019), where it was noted it was critical for organizations to develop their brand. The goal is to make the firm the employer of choice, and one in which the employees have a strong, welcoming culture, and one where the pay and benefits are competitive. A strong culture not only attracts top talent, but also helps in the retention of top talent.

In research from Sivertzen et al. (2013), the authors studied the effectiveness of a strong coordinated social media branding campaign on a firms’ ability to attract and retain employees. The findings suggest that a firm with strong corporate reputation can increase the likelihood of employees seeking career opportunities and applying for positions by building their corporate brand with the use of social media.

In his work, Hardy asks the question, “What about those of us who are coming to the unsettling realization that the demands of our career have taken over our entire life and given us little in return but an empty promise of happiness through the worldly success and material abundance”

(Hardy, 2014, p. 79)?

Hardy asks this question from a Christian perspective, and if one is asking this question of themselves and their career, the question is a stark one. If asked from a secular point of view, the question is still unsettling. An affirmative answer from both a Christian and a secular perspective indicate a less than acceptable working environment that does not provide the proper balance for employees in any manner, from spiritual health, physical health, or mental health.