In Chicago, you don’t have to travel very far to find emerging and excited Generation Y talent. Some of these young professionals are lucky enough to make traveling and vacationing their livelihood at Orbitz Worldwide. It makes sense that an internet-based company be ranked high on Brill Street + Company’s “2011 Top 50 Chicago Generation Y Employers.”

For more than 10 years, Orbitz Worldwide has been busy modernizing air travel booking. With an impressive list of industry contacts, Orbitz is able to connect travelers with affordable airfare, hotels and rental cars.

Orbitz Worldwide’s unique online travel business has attracted such a large base of Generation Y employees. According to Chief Technology Officer Roger Liu, it is important to challenge these Gen Y employees by keeping them motivated and make an effort to empower them and to give them a sense of control over the projects in which they are involved.

Orbitz Worldwide does more to empower its employees than just allowing them to have ownership over their projects. They provide their staff with an outstanding measure of feedback. This feedback is highly valued by the staff at Orbitz, as employees can evaluate their work and apply any needed changes very quickly and efficiently. Due to Orbitz’s highly varied and specialized work force, employees are given the opportunities to learn both broad and specialized skills from managers and co-workers.

With education being firmly rooted in the company, Orbitz employees are able to perfect their skill and look forward to career growth within the organization. Orbitz Worldwide provides its employees with multiple opportunities to experience this professional development. Orbitz Worldwide staff is nourished with feedback from a senior management level and are constantly able to receive feedback from a variety of professionals and position holders within the company.

Senior Software Engineer Saranya Raghavan explains, “We have a policy called “The 360 Feedback.” So, not only do we get feedback from our manager, but we get feedback from our peers, our stakeholders and everybody else.”

Orbitz Worldwide recognizes that Generation Y wants to make an impact to their company through their individual work. The organization is helping their employees do so by means of continual feedback and ensuring that the suggestions are implemented into one’s work effectively. They are innovative with how to get the most out of their Generation Y workers and constantly come up with ways to encourage structure and focus to keep their Gen Y professionals healthy, happy and hardworking.