Around the World with PayPay is a series of articles featuring our global workplace, with people gathered from approximately 40 countries around the world. The article consists of two parts: “FROM OUTSIDE” (published every first Thursday of the month) focuses on a comparison between Japan and the interviewee’s home country. “FROM INSIDE” (published every second Friday of the month) focuses on experiences within PayPay.
Continuing on from the last issue, we’ve sat down with Katie Cai from Melbourne, Australia!
Don’t forget to check out past issues too.
* The Japanese version of the article is available here.
Katie Cai
Product Designer
Country: Melbourne, Australia / Years in Japan: 4.5 / Location: Tokyo
“PayPay’s vision to help bring Japan into a cashless and more digital society seemed very interesting and I wanted to be a part of that story”
How are payments done in your country?
Mainly debit and credit cards. Net bank for p2p transfers is also quite common – Australia’s online banking experiences are usually quite good.
Why did you join PayPay?
My personal mantra is that I want to utilize my skills to work with companies or on products that can either help solve a social problem or make people’s lives easier – even if just a little. PayPay’s vision to help bring Japan into a cashless and more digital society seemed very interesting (and ambitious) and I wanted to be a part of that story.
What’s the best thing about working at PayPay?
The international environment and having interpreter support at your fingertips! PayPay interpreters are very impressive. Not only do they provide live translations, but they also try to match nuances and moods (if you laugh, they also laugh!). They’re the unsung heroes working behind the scenes.
Difference in work styles or corporate cultures
This is a difficult question to answer because I’ve only worked in more “international” environments in Japan. I guess one difference could be that in Australia, usually on Fridays by 4pm the beer fridge would be opened and everybody would more or less start winding down. We also have a lot of pub lunches (chicken parmas!) and sometimes we’d have pets in the office. One agency I worked at had 11 dogs rotating around everyday! It was very cute but admittedly a little distracting.
How is a normal working day for you at PayPay?
- 09:00 am
- Wake up, meditate, listen to the news and make a simple breakfast.
- 10:00 am
- Start by checking Slack messages, plan out the day, and start work. If there is time, I also like to allocate an hour to read up on the latest design news and trends.
- 07:00 pm
- Knock off work and review the day’s progress. Make dinner, gym, and enjoy the rest of the evening. When the days are longer, I also try to run upstairs to catch the sunset as a nice way to finish off the day.
What do you think was the biggest positive impact of PayPay in Japan?
Providing consumers with another payment alternative and connecting businesses/merchants with more prospective customers through the app.
Hope you enjoyed reading about Katie!
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Special Thanks: Katie Cai / Edited by: Kye & Naoko
* Employee affiliations are as of the time of the interview.
