With Generation Y, or millenials, beginning to dominate the workforce over Baby Boomers, employers are finding themselves needing to make a switch in how they approach the workplace environment. After all, Generation Y is vastly different from the Baby Boomer generation, with this group of twenty-somethings being far more comfortable with using technology and with communicating through the Internet.

As more Baby Boomers head off to retirement, their jobs are increasingly being filled by Generation Y employees, who tend to be quite confident in their abilities as well as hopeful, ambitious and goal-oriented. These characteristics, combined with their younger ages, means that they tend to bring a fresh, new perspective to the companies they work with. As such, many employers are actually interested in bringing more Generation Y employees into their workforce. For these companies, the question is simple: how do we attract more people from the Generation Y to work for our company?

In many cases, the secret to attracting Generation Y employees is offering something that is different from the norm. While members of the Generation Y are certainly interested in salary and benefits, they are also looking for a workplace that is fun, team-oriented, creative and challenging. What may come as a surprise to the Baby Boomers they are replacing, more than 50% of Generation Y professionals who participated in a survey with Beyond.com did not list salary as the most important factor when deciding whether or not to take on a new job.

Rather than focusing solely on salary, some of the steps employers need to do in order to attract Generation Y employees include:

· Offer Feedback – Generation Y professionals want to be able to learn from their managers and will work hard to achieve the goals their managers set before them. Providing constructive feedback and creating a clear career track is important to this generation. Not only does this help them to better understand how well they are doing, it also provides them with the incentive they need to keep moving forward.

· Provide Unique Benefits – Generation Y professionals value non-traditional benefits, such as having a game room or exercise room, receiving peer-nominated awards, receiving extras such as free movie tickets, and being allowed to dress casually.

· Emphasis on Team – Generation Y professionals generally prefer to work with others, which means the office space should be designed in a way that encourages interaction. Installing low cubicles, creating a company instant messaging system and establishing teams to work on projects are all great ways to foster this team spirit.

· Charitable Contributions – Generation Y professionals tend to be concerned about the environment and their community, which means they are more attracted to companies that support community initiatives.

· Relaxed Work Environment – Generation Y professionals want to be able to look forward to going to work each day, which means they are interested in working at a place with a friendly, fun and creative environment. Companies that offer company gatherings, summer barbecues, team building events and other fun activities are more likely to attract members of Generation Y.

· Opportunity to Learn – although Generation Y professionals want to work somewhere with a fun environment, they are still interested in learning and growing in a professional manner. By offering opportunities to learn and to participate in projects, employers can attract a larger number of Generation Y professionals.

· Flexibility – while Generation Y professionals are not afraid of hard work, they also want to have a life outside of their job. Therefore, they are looking for jobs that will allow them the flexibility and freedom they need to bring balance to their work lives and their home lives.

If you are a member of Generation Y who is ready to take the world by storm, visit the Top Colleges home page to start browsing through a variety of different degree programs that can help you get started!