The shorter the working hours, the better, as long as you can perform well. It doesn’t matter where you are. As long as you meet our semi-annual gross profit targets, you are completely free in the way you work.

If you work even one minute, that can count as a full day of work. Some of our members have moved from Tokyo and Osaka to Okinawa and Hokkaido. Members are also free to take a workcation in Japan or overseas.

In addition, side hustles are essentially allowed as long as they are not in the same line of work as ZIZO. We all do better work in a comfortable working environment (place, time, and style). It is better to create something of uniquely high value in a short time than to spend a lot of time doing something that can be done by anyone. This is our stance.

ZIZO’s salary system is based on a grading system. The amount of an individual’s base salary and gross profit target are determined according to the grade. All members in all positions, including designers and engineers, are eligible for this system. In six-month increments, bonuses increase if the gross profit target exceeds 100%, and decreases if it falls below the target.

The rules are clear and do not allow for ambiguous evaluations by supervisors to determine the amount of bonuses. Also, it is up to the individual to decide the gross profit target. If you reach 100% of the target in month 5 of a 6-month evaluation period, then you can choose to do anything for the remaining month. Of course, you can also earn even more and increase your bonus. You are also free to decide your own grade within a reasonable range.

You are not forced to be assigned to projects you do not want to work on. When a new project comes to the company as a result of an inquiry or referral, the information is shared in the “New Project” channel on Slack, and the member who has submitted a proposal is assigned to the project. If more than one person raises their hand, we will discuss and determine the division of roles. If there are no candidates, the case itself will be declined.

If an individual is consulted directly on a project, the person consulted is free to assign a member to the project. The member who is approached is also free to decide whether or not to accept the project.

In addition, when preparing an estimate, each member of each job category will submit their own costs and the total will be the sum of the costs. Therefore, there is no such thing as being forced to work with a small gross profit margin without prior knowledge.

In order to better serve our clients, ZIZO’s strategy is to improve the quality of projects by combining the abilities of several members with different areas of expertise. We do not encourage one person to take charge of a wide range of shallow projects.

This way, each member has his or her own area of expertise and works to improve his or her skills on a daily basis. The structure is that several members in the same field of expertise gather together and work as a “Party” or “Team”.

Each party or team has a budget to purchase books or equipment. They participate in study groups and events. They work to obtain projects in which they can utilize their skills in their area of expertise. You can belong to a maximum of two parties/teams.

Since the ideas of “valuing diversity” and “respecting individual ideas” permeate the company, there is very little stress from being forced to do something by someone else or having to do something due to peer pressure.

In fact, each member is free to decide whether or not to participate in a given project in order to avoid quality being compromised by people with different work styles working on the same project.

Because of this, the members of the company maintain a moderately close relationship, and even when they are not in the office, they usually communicate with each other via Slack, and when they get together at ZIZO FES, they genuinely enjoy talking together.