Merpay’s Very Own GOT – Designing the culture of the organization by eliminating cultural and language barriers #MerpayNow vol.27

Hi everyone, this is Rika from the Merpay HR team.

Here at Merpay we believe that diversity is key to understanding our user’s needs and promoting high levels of creativity and innovation within the company. To help support non-Japanese members of the company in their work here at Merpay, we decided to set up our very own Global Operations Team (GOT). GOT’s mission goes beyond simply providing translation and interpretation support. The team also takes on the challenge of eliminating cultural and language barriers within the workplace as part of the Corporate Design Team.

To find out more about Merpay’s GOT, we decided to have a casual chat with a key member of the team, Yuko Chee.

*The Corporate Design Team is in charge of building Merpay as an organization by improving office facilities, implementing strategies to improve communication, etc.

ー So I heard that you’re from Singapore! How did you end up joining Merpay?

Actually, I was an employee of Mercari before I moved to Merpay. I joined Mercari last August right after graduating from the National University of Singapore. I’ve always wanted to live in Japan so I saw my graduation as the perfect opportunity to work in Japan. I took interest in the fact that GOT was involved in many different projects at Mercari as the company was working towards becoming a global tech company.

While the main focus of my work was on translation and interpretation tasks, I was also involved in onboarding and contributing to strategies for improving communication within the company.

ー I heard that you volunteered to move to Merpay.

Yes. I heard about Merpay from the CEO, Aoyagi. I wanted to experience the challenge of working in a startup environment so decided to join. My initial task at Merpay was to provide translation and interpretation support for members who couldn’t speak Japanese.

After 6 months, the number of employees in the company doubled (or maybe even more than that!) and the number of members who needed support increased as a result. Therefore, we decided that it was necessary to establish a GOT in Merpay to create and implement new strategies to provide support for them as soon as possible.

ー So GOT works under the Corporate Design Team?

Yes that’s right! Merpay’s GOT is under the Corporate Design Team; a team that is in charge of designing the organization as a whole. Therefore, we are not only focused on solely translation and interpretation, but are also focused on building the company’s culture – that is one of our team’s core missions.

ー What projects or plans do you have for building the company’s culture?

We are planning to implement initiatives to create more opportunities for both Japanese members and non-Japanese members to communicate with each other, perhaps over coffee or lunch. Actually there are many members in Merpay who are able to speak English! I believe that we are slowly but surely moving in the direction of creating a culture where members can communicate with each other casually, regardless of their job positions — even if some people are not 100% fluent in the language.

From the perspective of non-Japanese members who are not fluent in Japanese, these efforts in trying to communicate with them mean a lot to them. I hope that I am able to further build on this and create a culture where communication is even smoother.

ー For Merpay’s GOT, other than translation and interpretation tasks, I guess the priority lies in creating the team itself right?

We really are starting from 0, so in a way, it is an environment where pretty much anything is possible. I was doing mostly translation and interpretation during my year at Mercari, but in Merpay, partly because we are under the Corporate Design Team, I am expected to contribute more than just language support. I am encouraged to Go Bold (one of the company’s value). [laughs]

ー What kind of team would you like GOT to be moving forward?

I really believe that an enjoyable work environment is crucial. I aim to create a team where both Japanese and non-Japanese members don’t hesitate to seek help from us when they face issues related to language or communication.

ー Last but not least, what kind of person do you think is suitable for the Merpay GOT position?

Of course, interpretation and translation skills are necessary, but I think it is also important that the person has an interest in creating the company’s culture and organization together. It would be great to find someone who finds being involved in these kinds of projects rewarding. Also, Merpay is a Fintech company — so that’s one big difference between us and Mercari. Someone interested in IT, in particular Fintech, would make a great candidate .

If you’re interested in building Merpay’s culture together with GOT, why not apply?