Revolutionize employment in Japan with “social implementation of multiple jobs”. Mr. Naotomo Obayashi of Another works, who continues to create the commonplace of the future with the management philosophy he learned from his predecessors

It has been a long time since the diversification of work styles has attracted attention. Among them, “multi-tasking”, in which people work on multiple jobs at the same time, is a work style that enables flexible career development of individuals and can also be a solution to the labor shortage that is likely to become serious in various parts of Japan in the future.

In order to spread such a “double business” in Japanese society, Another works Co., Ltd.​ ​Mr. Naotomo Obayashi (Obayashi Naotomo) launched the "multi-business cloud". This time, we asked Mr. Obayashi to talk about a wide range of topics, including the history of the company's founding, management philosophy, people who have influenced him, and future prospects.

Bringing about a revolution in Japanese employment with “multiple jobs”

Please tell us again about the business of Another Works.

Another works develops and operates a platform that matches companies and human resources with the keyword "double business".

The reason why I used the word “multi-business” in the service name is that I wanted to present a variety of options for how to relate to work, which tends to be monolithic in Japan. "Side jobs", which have been gaining attention in recent years, have a strong nuance of being a job to supplement the income from the main business. In the future, it will be important to get involved in things you like outside of your main job and gain "rewarding", and to accumulate "experience" for your desired career.

In order to update the working style of Japanese society and realize the social implementation of multi-tasking, we face our business every day with the mission of "maximizing the opportunities for all those who take on challenges".

Could you tell us about the circumstances that led to the establishment of the company from the perspective of “multiple businesses”?

I came up with the idea of a “multi-business cloud” when I joined Pasona Inc. as a new graduate and was involved in a new business related to outsourcing human resources. Pasona's new business was targeted at large companies, but I thought that outsourcing and multi-tasking human resources would lead to solving the problems of small and medium-sized enterprises and local companies.

Even if small and medium-sized companies and local companies want to hire people with skills, it is difficult to find excellent human resources due to the limited budget for hiring companies. Also, if you hire human resources as full-time employees in the first place, you will have risks because the running costs will increase. However, outsourced human resources have the opportunity to work with excellent human resources within the scope of the company's resources, such as having them participate in projects on a spot basis.

Furthermore, Japan will face a shortage of workers due to its declining birthrate and aging population. In order to solve the problems faced by local companies and SMEs and the problem of a declining working population that will inevitably occur in the future, it is necessary to further promote projects related to the utilization of outsourced human resources. By thinking so, I arrived at the business idea of "multi-business cloud".

The business idea was brought up at the recruiting company you joined as a new graduate.

I agree. However, I think that not only my experience at Pasona, but also my various experiences so far have been combined to create a "multi-business cloud".

I became aware of the issues faced by local companies and SMEs because my father ran a company in my hometown of Oita Prefecture. It was because I was doing I believe that what I learned about labor-management relations at university also led to my business ideas in a broad sense.

It means that your experiences so far are organically linked and lead to business ideas. Could you tell us about your background, Mr. Obayashi?

Until now, I have consistently pursued career development toward starting a business. The main reason I wanted to start a business was because I was influenced by my father, who is a business owner. In a home environment where employees would come to visit me at home, I saw the interactions between my father and employees, and saw how my father faced his work. I was.

After deciding to start a business when I was in high school, I chose the Faculty of Law at Waseda University, my father's alma mater. The theme I pursued at university was labor-management relations. I was interested in the relationship between my father and his employees, and it was a field that I wanted to study. When I wasn't studying, I worked as an intern at a recruiting company for new graduates that I got a connection with on Twitter in order to get one step closer to starting a business.

After graduating from university, I joined Pasona as a new graduate and was involved in a new business for about two and a half years. After finding a business idea, I changed jobs to BizReach Co., Ltd. through an acquaintance. I joined the company because I wanted to learn Internet business so that I could help realize a "multi-business cloud", but as a result, I learned a lot, such as how to create a business model, how to gather friends, and how to be a manager. After working for 1 year and 1 month, I retired and founded Another Works in May 2019.

A big point in your career is the good connections you made. Is there any secret to get the relationship at the key points?

First of all, I think it's a must to keep moving, such as visiting various places. Since relationships are created by oneself, I try to actively talk to people who I feel are good instinctively. Also, the fact that you are trying to accumulate virtues every day may also affect your relationship.

What does it mean to accumulate virtue?

I try not to do bad things on a daily basis and try to do good things as much as possible. For example, the other day, when I was walking around town, I came across an Indian person who was having trouble opening a bank account. Since the schedule after that was packed, I could have overlooked it, but I coordinated all the schedules and helped with everything from making a seal to open an account to bank procedures. It was a rainy day, so I gave him an umbrella as a gift, and we hugged each other at the intersection and said goodbye, which was quite a rare day.

This may be a bit of an extreme example, but I think that there is also a connection that naturally draws you in as you try to be a person with depth by trying to do good things every day.

What shape the entrepreneur Naotomo Obayashi

Please tell us a little more about the things that shaped the current Obayashi-san. I heard that it was your father who inspired you to start your own business, but what kind of person is your father to you?

A father should be surpassed. My father has been a huge influence in my life. For example, I learned from my father the stance of not showing effort in front of my wife and friends, which I am trying to do now. My father must have faced many difficulties as a business owner, but he never showed his hardships or desperate efforts in front of his family. I still admire the image of my father.

Mr. Obayashi has made steady progress so far with the aim of starting a business. Is there anything you are conscious of on a daily basis to ensure that you achieve your goals?

Backward thinking, isn't it? When I was in elementary school, my father taught me the importance of thinking backwards through baseball. If you want to make sure you get results with a small turn at bat, you have to make the necessary preparations to get results while you're not at bat. The backward calculation thinking that I acquired through baseball became my strength. Even now, after starting my own business, I often think about what kind of business I should start with the goal of "social implementation of multiple businesses".

I see. In doing business, Mr. Obayashi, you place great importance on the clear world view of "social implementation of multiple businesses" and the significance of your company's existence. I wonder why?

It is the influence of Shoin Yoshida, a great man at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and Soichiro Minami of Visional Co., Ltd. that made me cherish these things.

Shoin Yoshida first became interested in Japan when he was on a family trip in high school, but at the end of the Edo period, he seriously aspired to change Japan. Shoin not only founded the Shoka Sonjuku, but he also tried to board the black ship to learn about Europe and the United States. Like Shoin Yoshida, I also want to seriously face Japan's issues. I am strongly aware of his way of life and try to think about my own life.

When Shoin was in his twenties, he tried to get into Kurofune, and when I was 26, I started a business to bring about changes in employment. Shoin was 29 years old when he passed away, but I am just 29 now. Like Shoin Yoshida, who influenced many people with his lofty aspirations, I am always thinking about what kind of society I want to achieve and what I should do now so that I can achieve my goals.

Another person who was influenced by you, Soichiro Minami, was the founder of BizReach.

that's right. Many of my management philosophies and action guidelines are influenced by Mr. Minami. Mr. Minami values "just cause and the royal road" in doing business, and is a person who places importance on following the royal road without doing anything wrong. In addition, you have always said that it is the job of a manager to recruit suitable human resources without compromising high aspirations and the company's raison d'etre. Believing in Mr. Minami's philosophy, I put effort into recruiting, public relations, and fundraising while always stating the cause I want to realize, "social implementation of multiple businesses."

I also got the impression that Mr. Obayashi has a high point of view. What do you think about that?

In order to make quality decisions as a manager, I am conscious of having a high perspective. However, I sometimes find it difficult to maintain a high perspective. Therefore, I try to control myself by imagining what other people think. By imagining what my father would think, and what Mr. Minami and Shoin Yoshida would think, I changed my perspective. Thanks to continuing this, I have recently been able to move freely between perspectives.

Recruit people who are determined and seriously aim for "social implementation of multi-business"

Will “social implementation of multiple jobs” be a keyword in recruitment activities as well?

I agree. With our company's purpose as the axis of recruitment, we are looking at the selection of people who are in line with the action guidelines.
After all, I want people who are excited about "social implementation of multiple jobs" to join us. Do you really want to create a future where human resources with various skills that have been buried until now can lively take on challenges in all parts of society? We believe that this will be a turning point in our recruitment process.

While doing multi-business cloud, I hope to solve not only the problems of small and medium-sized enterprises and local companies, but also the problems of local human resources. A good friend of mine in Oita Prefecture was studying to become an engineer in Tokyo, but gave up on that dream when he decided to take over the family business. However, if there is an option of double jobs, people like him can challenge their dreams once again in their long lives.

I want to make the various possibilities created by multi-tasking commonplace in society. If you think so, we would like you to come to our company.

Mr. Obayashi, who puts effort into hiring, do you also assess human resources by yourself?

No, most of the selection is done by HR personnel and management. Finally, I am deciding whether or not I can entrust my back and fight together toward my goal. I think that it is precisely because I have decided on a cause and a code of conduct as a sanctuary that the staff are protected that even if I am not fully committed to the selection process, the hiring process is going well.

In hiring, there are many parts where you trust and leave it to your colleagues.

I agree. In the sense of "delegation of authority," we quickly completed the transfer of authority not only for recruitment, but also for sales, development, and customer success.

For development, for example, I wanted to develop and improve quickly, so I handed over all authority to the CTO. I'm not involved in the decision of function implementation or design. All I am responsible for is confirming numbers and solving problems.

Was there any difficulty in delegating authority?

There were many times when I wanted to interfere in the movement of the site. So I dropped out of the Slack related group that I use internally to keep the information out of the way in the first place. Sales, development, and customer success are only dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

However, even if I want to say something, it's just that I'm worried about the movement, and it's not that the members on the site are uneasy. I only hire people who sympathize with what our company is aiming for and who I think, "I don't mind being deceived by this person."

The reason why our company has been able to continue our business smoothly to this day may be because we were able to "recruit friends" well.

Do you think that there are many people with a high sense of purpose in the company because the axis is solid in recruitment? I would also like to know about the company culture.

I think there are many employees who came with the determination that they want to realize "social implementation of multi-business" together with me. It is a company that is open-minded and full of enthusiasm, like a patriot at the end of the Edo period. I like Takafumi Horie's book, "Zero: Adding a small point to myself who has nothing." I'm telling you. It's okay to fail, so I value the willingness to take action.

At the same time, we also value the happiness of our employees. In order to get to know the personality of each employee, we invite employees to be guests and distribute "Another Radio" where I serve as a personality, and also call it "Heartful Time" and people who have done wonderful things in line with our values. We also have an opportunity to express our gratitude on Slack every week. Also, from my own experience of devoting myself to work and cutting down time with my family, I tell my employees not to work overtime as much as possible. If you work overtime for an hour, I want you to use that minute to communicate with your family. Work alone does not increase happiness in life. I think that how to work with a high level of happiness will become important in the future. I want each employee to concentrate on their work during working hours, and use the rest of their time for their own happiness.

We want to accumulate trust from society through “confidence over profits,” and eventually realize legal revisions and the utilization of overseas human resources.

Please tell us about the difficulties you faced when you started your business.

What was difficult was the process of spreading the word and concept of “multiple jobs”, which had not been common until now, to the world and creating examples so that it would become commonplace. I started with awareness-raising activities for "double jobs," which had not been used in the business world or in the media, and recently I feel that the opportunities to be picked up by the media have finally increased.

Since I felt that it was essential to utilize multi-business human resources not only in the private sector but also in the government if "multi-business" was to permeate society as a whole, I started using a platform for the utilization of multi-business human resources in local governments about a year and a half ago. We put a lot of effort into manufacturing. To date, more than 150 cases have been completed, but I believe that this was a major challenge for the realization of the society we aim for.

What is the reason why we have been able to continue to create cases at high speed in the world of government that values examples?

Precisely because of the principle of precedent, I think that I was thoroughly particular about creating the first example. I believe that the key to a new business is how fast and good the first five cases can be. That's why, in the case of Miyake Town, Nara Prefecture, the first case of introduction in a local government, we visited the mayor's home and directly explained our thoughts on this service. I also talked to the mayor's wife, and she trusted me as a person and made a bet with me. Because we put our company's future on the line to create a successful case, the introduction in Miyake-cho became a representative example of our company.

When starting something new, I think that the first example must be created by the management himself.

Are there any areas other than government that you would like to focus on in the future?

Counting backwards from the realization of "social implementation of multiple businesses", in addition to government, we are currently focusing on developing sports events that are indispensable in rural areas and educational institutions with high needs for emotional rewards and experience rewards. In the future, we are considering further expansion into the tourism industry and temples and shrines. Ultimately, I would like to change the law and lift the ban on side jobs for civil servants. In Japan, people have the freedom to choose their occupation, so civil servants should be able to do side jobs as well. If you want to revitalize local areas, it is necessary to utilize private multi-skilled human resources in local governments and share human resources among local governments. I hope that someday I can change the law and work on a level of work that overturns conventional wisdom.

After the foundation is established in Japan, I would like to eventually work on the utilization of multi-business human resources overseas. In order to avoid Japan's serious labor shortage, I think that overseas human resources are the solution. I envision creating a system where human resources from countries that see Japan as a market can work in Japan while staying in their own country. I would like to expand the meaning of "multiple jobs" and aim for "a world where you can work across multiple countries".

“Double business cloud” does not charge a contract fee, and is operated by a subscription model that is exceptional in the human resources industry. Could I ask the reason?

With the subscription model, regardless of the size of the budget, all companies can achieve the results of their recruitment activities depending on their own efforts.

In the first place, contract fees in the human resources industry are high. I also don't understand the logic behind that amount. Recruitment agencies tend to focus their resources on companies with budgets, even though high fees limit the companies that can afford them. I didn't want to leave the situation where hiring didn't go well because I couldn't do anything with my efforts. With that in mind, we decided to adopt a subscription model.

Also, I think it was important that I decided not to run for short-term profits, valuing the principle of “confidence over profit,” which was taught to me by the company president during my time at Pasona. By creating a system that is easy for many companies to introduce, we thought that we would be able to build up trust over the long term, so we avoided earning revenue from closing fees.

Look to your organization when the grass next door looks green

In 2021, a third-party allotment was implemented. How was the fundraising?

There were no particular difficulties, and it was fun to learn about our company from the perspective of investors. I think that startups that are going to raise funds from now on will be able to enjoy fundraising if they have a perspective that makes use of the words received from investors in their management.

In my case, I think that fundraising is a part of "gathering friends" as well as hiring. If we can meet investors who are willing to work with us to move forward with our business, I think it will help us broaden our perspectives and human connections.

Could you give a message of support to startups from the pre-seed stage to the seed stage?

I think the period from pre-seed to seed is tough. If the grass on the other side looks greener, I'd like you to focus on what's in front of you without rushing too much. I have also experienced it, but I'm not looking forward to such a period. The reason why I'm worried about my neighbor is because I'm following the royal road, not the evil way. If you believe in yourself, your business, and the people who have worked with you this far, and turn your attention to your own organization, your vision will become clearer. Please do your best to move on to the next stage.

Finally, please give a word to our readers!

If you are considering changing jobs to a startup, I would like you to go back to why you want to change jobs in the first place. Startups look shiny, but they're actually swamps. Those who are passionate about it will be so addicted to it that they can't get their feet off. If you want to enjoy chaos, working at a startup might be for you.

Also, because it is a startup, please carefully ascertain who the manager is and where the company is headed. It may be a good idea to look at the company as if you were an associate of the manager.

If there are people who deeply sympathize with our goal of “social implementation of multiple businesses”, we would love to have you join us.