Rakuten reviews

Even 1 star is too high... -Time is policed heavily, they monitor all of your entry and exit times. Salary/bonus can be reduced and you will get a poor review if you're even a few minutes past the strict "starting time". There is no strictly enforced "ending time"... your salary isn't increased and you aren't rewarded if you work longer. -There is a bell/chime declaring when the work day begins as well as morning announcements. This isn't school its a work place. Incredibly embarrassing when you're in an early meeting with a vendor or some other external party and this goes off. They just laugh at you. -The higher ups just ignore problems, deny them, and think that the company is perfect. -The CEO things he can compete with the other big players on a global scale... but isn't innovative as he claims proudly. Everything is copied from other companies or to fund his personal dreams. -Employees treated like babies. It is assumed you can't think for ourselves or make decisions about things, etc. They force training of the "rakuten religion" onto you. -Broken grading system which takes forever to get promoted or increase salary. No 360 reviews. -No one questions the top and those who do are forced out. There is definitely more but honestly just take the free Visa and leave when you can.

- Finger pointing culture is very deep-rooted in Rakuten. When something goes wrong, it is common that people blame each other first, rather than helping each other to fix the problem. - A lot of employees at Rakuten fear to make mistakes or lose face; therefore, they tend not to make any changes/improvements. To make matters worse, they prefer covering up problems to fixing/reporting them. - A quick and dirty approach is preferable to the best practices and standards. As a result, most software developers at Rakuten tend to develop low-quality and unmaintainable software just to "get things done" by the deadline. Unfortunately, this approach causes the technical debts to accumulate over time and it is now impossible to repay. - People come and go and nobody cares. Due to its reputation, Rakuten can attract a lot of talents from all around the world but it cannot retain them longer than a couple of years. - English is an official language in Tokyo office but a lot of important documents are still written in Japanese only. Besides, most Japanese employees, especially senior managers, cannot speak or even understand English. - Below average salary for experienced and educated engineers. - Rakuten waste thousands of man-hours on a company-wide weekly meeting. Every Monday at 8am, All regular employees MUST attend this weekly meeting and listen to the narcissistic CEO bragging about himself and his irrational daydream. - Toilets are occupied most of the time because some people use them to take a nap or play mobile games.