MakeMyTrip.com is one of India’s leading online travel companies with 20 branches across the country, and international offices in New York and San Francisco. A poster boy for India’s new-age entrepreneurship, MakeMyTrip had a blockbuster IPO debut on the Nasdaq in August 2010. But, travelling these highs wasn’t a breeze. Deep Kalra, the company’s founder and CEO, believes a great, driven team has scripted this success. Operating in a highly competitive online market for a decade, the travel giant has come to be known for its people-centric workplace—moulded by an enthusiastic rewards and recognition programme to beat competition, says Kalra. His team confesses they err on the side of over recognising employees—not just for actual achievement but even for genuine efforts to keep the work environment positive.

To ensure the race to achieve sales revenue doesn’t come at the cost of compromising the company’s values, MakeMyTrip has introduced schemes that reward employees who demonstrate company values in their daily work.

“Our honeymoon in Europe went really well. Everything worked like a clock as per the itinerary you’d provided us. It was all well planned right from the VISA and EURAIL tickets to the hotel bookings and sightseeing. A splendid effort from your end and your constant help over the phone was truly remarkable...” This was an e-mail Ankush Jamadagni sent MakeMyTrip after returning from his holiday in Europe in November 2011. But the Jamadagnis weren’t the only ones to have a great time. Their e-mail won Chandni Monga Singhal, a travel coordinator at MakeMyTrip, a trophy and a certificate. Part of what is called the CustoMore Award, this recognition is given out to sales and customer service executives who receive the best fan (read: customer) mail each month.

It’s just one of the many reward tactics MakeMyTrip has put in place to motivate employees to beat their targets—whether it is the number of transactions sealed or the amount of profit made.

“If you want employees to repeat good behaviour, you have to let them know their behaviour was good,” says Purva Misra, senior vice president, human resources. “So we create a big deal about the winners so that others would want to be a part of that elite group.” Take the HallaBol award, for example. It’s a coveted recognition, given out monthly to sales executives with the highest sales for the month or for non-sales staff who have made a significant contribution to the organisation in their function. Apart from a big round of applause when the award is announced at the employee’s desk—the winner takes home cash rewards, a flag and some stars to brand their work stations. The HallaBol scheme is well-planned—about 10 per cent of employees in the company’s different operational regions like North, South, East, West and Gujarat get rewarded. More than the company-wide communication, the physical branding of being awarded has played a big part in making this an award employees aspire for. In fact, this focus is apparent the moment you enter MakeMyTrip’s spacious, open-plan office in Gurgaon. Employee workstations are bedecked with colourful flags, stars and certificates won as part of the wide range of R&R schemes in place here. “The cash rewards we give may not be that significant but it is the feeling of being recognised in front of peers and leaders that really motivates people,” she adds.

There’s an entire galaxy of rewards to choose from including the Star Performer, Star Extraordinaire and Star Leader which are all given out during the bi-annual town hall meetings—attended by everybody from the CEO to the support staff. But can winning so many awards lead to complacency and overconfidence among workers? MakeMyTrip dismisses those concerns, saying the winning culture has had the desired impact—increased productivity. Many winners have been nominated more than once proving they want to stay on the top, points out Misra. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to receive it in front of the entire organisation. It really motivates you to be there again,” says V. Archana, a senior international holiday consultant at MakeMyTrip’s Chennai office, who has won the star performer award twice.

There are other recognitions with equally quirky names like the Raving Fans scheme. Here, employees keep a scorecard for the customer feedback they receive—three points for every positive one and two minus points for every negative feedback. Once they toll up 100 to 300 points, they can redeem them to buy iPods, DVD players, wrist watches or cell phones. Similarly, points from the Peer-to-Peer scheme, instituted to promote teamwork can also be added up to buy these goodies. There are more exciting prizes up for the takes too—like the grand prize of a fully-paid for trip to Europe for two given to the Query Champion award (an employee who manages customer queries the best).

Although CEO Deep Kalra’s involvement with these R&R initiatives has reduced over the years, several of these traditions were launched when MakeMyTrip was just a 200-people start-up in 2005. Even today, Kalra sends out appreciation e-mails in troves—for business achievements like beating a sales target, and little things like sharing a good article with fellow “trippers”, as employees here call themselves. Kalra believes recognition cannot merely be performance-based. It should cover all achievements of employees from day-to-day activities to high-impact events. “You can’t over-do recognition—the more, the better,” he says. The HR department marks his e-mails to everybody in the company to demonstrate what behaviour or actions are appreciated by the senior management.

Setting a high-performance, high-reward culture can lead to the proverbial corporate dog-eat-dog world. To ensure the race to achieve sales revenue and bring more business in doesn’t come at the cost of compromising the company’s values, MakeMyTrip has also introduced schemes that reward employees who demonstrate company values in their daily work. “Our recognition policies help maintain a healthy atmosphere in the competitive corporate environment reinstating a feel good, “am-part-of-it” factor,” says founder and CEO Deep Kalra. Clearly, MakeMyTrip has worked out a formula where everybody wins—and that too, all the time!