Since going fully remote, I've realized how important it is to have colleagues who work with me. - Yuki Hinata, Web Director, Monosus Thailand

Hello, my name is Sugimoto and I am a writer living in Kyoto.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, my passport expired... I'm still physically stuck in Kyoto, but these days I'm doing more online interviews with people living overseas than I ever did before.

This time, we spoke with Yuki Hinata, Web Director of Monosus Thailand, also known as Monotai, about how the Monosus website is also going overseas.

" Freedom and Responsibility: Everyone's Systems and Work Styles Laboratory " is a series in which we ask Monosus members, now in their fourth year since the introduction of a full flextime system and their second year of working fully remotely, about their independent work styles and how their attitudes towards the workplace known as "the company" have changed.

Monotai does not have a full flextime system, but has switched to a full remote system under the current COVID-19 situation. Together with Akane Saito from the Monosas Site Secretariat, we had a long talk with Hinata about the difficulties of a full remote system unique to Monotai, and his love of coding.

A major turning point in my life: joining Monosus, a place I had always longed for

Sugimoto: This is your first appearance on the Monosasu website, Hinata-san. I'd like to ask you about when you first joined Monota.

Hinata: I was hired locally in November 2018. I moved to Thailand in the summer of 2013 with my partner at the time. I was originally working at a web production company in Tokyo, and after moving, I worked as a freelancer, mainly doing web coding. When I decided to live alone, I considered returning to Japan, but I thought it would be less stressful to continue living in Thailand, so I started job hunting.

Sugimoto: Do you remember why you decided to apply to Monotai?

Hinata: I knew about Monosus when I was in Tokyo, reading their magazine serials and attending their seminars, so I thought it was a good company. I also knew that Monotai had been established, but everyone at Monosus seemed so shiny and dazzling. I felt like I couldn't fit in. But when the question arose of whether to go back to Japan or stay in Thailand, I decided to take the plunge and apply to the company I had always dreamed of. They weren't recruiting, but I contacted them and said, "If you're interested," and they hired me.

Sugimoto: What was it about Monosus that made you think it was a good company?

Hinata: I mainly watched CF (Coding Factory). I admired them because they had solid coding guidelines and a checking team, and I felt they had a sense of pride in their coding and were craftsmen.

Sugimoto: In other words, at a major turning point in your life, you took the plunge and knocked on the door of the company of your dreams.

Hinata: It was a gamble. I'm glad I had the courage to do it then.

Thai coder is "serious, kind, and patient"

Sugimoto: What was Monotai like when you joined the company?

Hinata: I wonder why? There is nothing unpleasant about it. I often hear from my acquaintances who work in Thai companies that "Thai people are selfish and quit quickly," but everyone at MonoThai is very earnest, kind, and patient. They are very proper and I respect them.

The atmosphere in the company is also very good. Someone is always laughing, and there is no sense of tension at all. The work itself can be tough at times, but the good atmosphere may be what helps me.

Sugimoto: Akane-chan, you look like you have something on your mind. Do you have anything to say?

Saito: Yes. I was really surprised. I had the image that people who wear monotai are very busy, so I thought to myself, "Maybe they're working in a rough mood?" But someone is always smiling... I realized that's the kind of atmosphere it was.

Hinata: My current job is as a web director, so I receive requests from Japanese clients, break down their requirements, and give instructions to Thai coders. Sometimes they ask for impossible things, so when I was a coder, I would have been frustrated and thought, "This design is difficult," and I would have felt dissatisfied with the director personally.

However, the coders at MonoThailand don't bring their work-related complaints or dissatisfaction into their relationships, saying things like, "The director Hinata just gave me this job." They have a "work is work, and colleagues are colleagues" mentality. That's one of the things I think I need to learn from when I started working with Thai people.

Sugimoto: I think that working styles differ depending on the country or region, for example, "In Japan, overtime is the norm, but in Europe, people go home right on time." What about working styles in Thailand?

Hinata: I only know about Monotai, but everyone is responsible for completing their work, so there's no way they'd leave work on time if they hadn't finished. However, I think family is the most important thing. It's normal to say, "I'm taking a day off because I have to take my family to the hospital." In Japan, it's rare to hear someone say, "I'm taking a day off because I have to take my wife to the hospital."

Sugimoto: It doesn't cause any trouble, but are there any cultural differences that surprise you?

Hinata: They play YouTube on the corner of the screen while they're working, or they have long snack times outside of their lunch breaks... It's been like that since they were working in the office, not during telework. Even if they look like they're playing, no one has been fired for slacking off too much. Everyone is doing their job properly.

When I first started living in Thailand, I was surprised to see convenience store and department store clerks constantly looking at their smartphones. I was so used to that, that I wasn't too surprised when people in Monothai behaved a little more freely.

We may never be able to go back to the days before full remote work.

Sugimoto: What is the situation in Thailand right now?

Hinata: You can't drink alcohol in restaurants, and massage parlours and beauty salons are closed. Other shops are probably open as usual (Note: As of August, only grocery stores and convenience stores are open). Depending on the infection situation, you may suddenly be banned from travelling to provinces outside of Bangkok. It's not that difficult to return to your home country, but you need a lot of paperwork when you go back to Thailand, so you can't just go back to Japan like you used to.

Sugimoto: Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Monotai has also transitioned to fully remote work.

Hinata: There are no days when I have to come to the office, so I haven't been to the office at all. I had a lot of fun working with everyone at the company, so it's sad to be alone again. Once the infection situation calms down, I would like to go to the office occasionally so I can see everyone.

However, I think most Thai people think that the current way of working is better. Some people live with their parents far from the office and have to commute for two hours. It may be difficult for them to work in the office every day like before.

Sugimoto: How has your way of working changed, Hinata?

Hinata: I work from 9am to 6pm as usual. I've always worked from home, so I have a good work environment and I think my productivity is the same as when I worked in the office. In fact, I think I'm able to concentrate on my work more now, which makes it more productive.

Sugimoto: Do you find it difficult to work remotely with Thai team members?

Hinata: When we worked together in the office, we could communicate with gestures and facial expressions, and even if we spoke poorly, we could communicate by showing each other the screen. Since we started working remotely, we can't communicate even the smallest things without an interpreter. It was especially difficult at first.

Even when I assign work, I know that everyone will always accept it with a kind smile, but when I chat with them, I can't see their expressions or emotions, so I wonder, "What are they thinking?" In Japanese, you can express your emotions in text using the nuances of words and emoticons like "!" But I can't express myself that well in English, and I find it difficult to communicate.

The common thread between cooking and coding is that they're "quick and easy"

Sugimoto: Since we have the opportunity, I'd like to ask you a bit about yourself. Why did you get into this industry?

Hinata: Actually, when I was a student, I studied to be a nutritionist and ran a company cafeteria as a nutritionist for about five years.

Sugimoto: That's quite an unexpected background.

Hinata: However, my job at the company cafeteria was lost, so I decided to try something new and studied HTML at the vocational training course at Hello Work. I found it really interesting and got hooked (laughs).

After that, I started working part-time as a coder while studying, and it was fun to learn something new every day. I would study books on the commuter train, and try it out at home. It was amazing to see what I made appear on the screen, be published on the web, and have everyone see it! I was so moved! I really fell in love with coding.

Sugimoto: Earlier, when I heard you say that "CF's craftsmanship is cool," I thought, "So you like coding!" but I had no idea you were that into it...

Hinata: When I first entered the web industry, the roles of designers and coders were not yet clearly separated. But I thought it was amazing that CF was able to focus entirely on coding and do it perfectly. Then I was able to switch to "I don't need to do design. I'll just work hard on coding."

The reason why I chose coding instead of design is because I felt good about how it would be decided if I did it this way. If there are clear guidelines like in CF, you can produce something of the same level even if the person in charge is different. Maybe I like the fact that there are procedures and you move towards completion.

Cooking is the same; you gather the ingredients, prepare them, finish the dish, and then eat it. I feel the same good feeling when I code. I think this is a "coder thing," but when I was really into coding, I got a kind of runner's high. It feels good to concentrate, and it's fun, like solving a puzzle.

What if we could increase the sense of camaraderie among mono-tai users online?

Sugimoto: Is there anything you would like to try in your work going forward?

Hinata: First of all, this is my first time working as a director since joining Monosus, so I would like to be able to better control the progress of projects so that everyone can work comfortably.

Another thing I want to do is to increase the opportunities for people to feel that "we are all colleagues in the same company" even when working fully remotely. For example, even if there is a child in the company who seems unwell, you don't know because you don't see them face to face now. I want to do something about that.

The Monotai staff have a friendly and welcoming atmosphere and it looks like fun!

Sugimoto: It might be a good idea for the Yoyogi office to share information about how we are trying to communicate even when we are far apart.

Hinata: Recently, there was talk about sharing information on GoogleKeep, so I think it would be good to have a place on the web where everyone can share. For example, it would be good to ask things like, "What was that YouTube that everyone was watching up until now?" (laughs). I would like to be able to share information that seems useless, like when I was in the office.

Sugimoto: Finally, I'd like to hear the impressions of Akane-chan, who joined us.

Saito: Listening to the people at Monosus talk, I can tell they take responsibility and enjoy their work, so even though they work for the same company, I admire them. "There are people who work like this."

Hinata: I think the same about everyone at Monosus. Everyone lives their lives with proper thought. As for me, I've really just been drifting through life. In terms of the phrase "myself and responsibility," I do feel like it's about me when it comes to my situation and how I'm living. But I've never planned my life out in advance, even when I was young, so I just drifted in the direction I wanted to go and ended up here (laughs).

Sugimoto: Even now, I'm not sure if I've properly thought about my life! Thank you, Hinata-san and Akane-chan!

As Akane said, the people at Monosus take pride in their work and think carefully about the meaning of being at Monosus. They might say, "Eh? It's nothing...", but I think it's really cool. Perhaps in the midst of their busy daily lives, they don't have many opportunities to talk about their work ethic. That's why I hope that the interviews on the Monosus site can help you share your thoughts.

Thank you so much to everyone who appeared in "Freedom and Responsibility 2020", everyone who read it, and Akane-chan and Kimi-chan for their support!