As we establish ourselves as the market leaders, it is imperative for us to leverage it to position ourselves as an ‘Employer of Choice’ and also offer our people plethora of growth opportunities. Therefore managing talent is a prime focus which ensures that our people development strategy and HR processes are in line with organizational needs. As a part of this initiative, we have identified the first batch of leaders who will undergo a critical talent development initiative this year. In consultation with the KornFerry Group, we have identified the driving factors required to take the organization to the next level and subsequently develop those capabilities to equip them to meet those needs.

Hiring the right people for the right job is another area of focus. Our focus is to hire for people with a constant adrenaline rush that keeps them going tirelessly at all times to deliver their best and also challenge themselves each time with a bigger goal. We seek the best-in-class talent from the market to ensure that the quality of our products and deliveries is world class. Therefore we are conscious to hire only those who fit the MakeMyTrip culture and values to 100%.
The last crucial priority is building a great workplace. We strongly believe in giving our employees great learning, a career path, and a fun environment. For us Fun@Work is not a jargon, but a value that we imbibe in ourselves which defines the true spirit the organization.

The nature of the online travel industry is such that it is highly dynamic. New developments and changes in the dynamic online industry make it important that people are agile to change with the happening around them. Constant learning and upgrading of knowledge is essential to maintain a competitive edge. This poses a challenge for HR to ensure that people remain motivated to actively engage themselves in constant knowledge up gradation. Hence there is an imperative to focus on people and ensure they are given plenty of growth and learning opportunities.

Another concern is that being a growing company, people have their hands full and are constantly multi-tasking which makes it difficult to pay much attention on investing in knowledge enriching activities which do not provide instant visible gains. Thus there is a challenge to motivate them to upgrade their existing knowledge base. Further, its nascent nature also makes nurturing of talent important because the required talent is not readily available in the market.

Personally, I feel talent acquisition is a key element of the talent management activity. I like to be involved in the talent acquisition process and ensure that we start right; else you would be trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Each right hire saves you the effort of developing and aligning them in future. We focus on acquiring and developing people rather than on retaining as we believe that the first two ensures that the third is managed. We hire people for their passion and nurture them, and give them the opportunity to do what they do best.

Going forward, HR’s biggest responsibility will be to ensure a balance between business goals and people-centricity in all company policies. To keep the uniqueness and essence of MakeMyTrip, the HR team ensures that they offer the employees a culture of freedom, empowerment and excitement. Special care is taken to keep employees engaged and motivated despite the hectic work schedule. This ensures that each morning the employee looks forward to reach office and start a new day. All three HR functions - recruitment, operations and organization development work in tandem to ensure that employees’ are kept happy and engaged at the workplace. The HR department is highly responsive and follows the philosophy of “happy employees make happy customers”. The SPOC (single-point-of-contact) model is followed in the organization, wherein at least one HR person sits at every floor. This ensures that the employees always have someone within their reach to put forward their queries to and get an instant direction/ resolution.

Today, HR is the anchor that keeps the business and its people aligned towards one common goal. HR with the help of management objectively defines the business goals for the organization and also runs the reward strategies to drive the same. HR plays a role in ensuring goals are ambitious yet achievable, and also ensures that the people are well equipped to be able to deliver on these goals. This also means they ensure that the talent acquisition and training and development are in sync with the business goals. HR’s dual role of being a support function and a business partner, it is imperative that HR involves itself in critical business decisions and therefore in the organizational goal setting process.