Rakuten reviews

Here are some of the things they didn't tell me when I signed on to work at Rakuten: 1. EVERY TUESDAY THE ENTIRE COMPANY IS AT THE OFFICE FROM 8 AM For "asakai." Though, to be fair, most people use a website to get out of it. 2. THERE IS A 50% CHANCE YOU WILL BE GUILT-TRIPPED INTO PERFORMING IN A DANCE COMPETITION Yeah. I didn't believe it either but you'll train daily for 2 hours--unpaid--and if you don't take part in it you'll be seen as selfish and not a team player. Your opportunities will be diminished. 3. BULLYING IS WIDELY AND OPENLY ACCEPTED You'd think that as a foreigner, you'd be at least *slightly* immune to the outrageous bullying culture that takes place in Japan--not the case. I have many friends whose entire lives (down to their Facebooks) were monitored, and the humiliation of employees in front of the entire room (THERE ARE NO CUBICLES) is common and accepted 4. YOUR WORK/LIFE BALANCE IS A JOKE TO THEM I was regularly asked to stay until 11--and sometimes OVERNIGHT--to get things done that simply did not need to be done as quickly as higher ups demanded. However, the authoritarian mindset runs so deeply within many of these people, that their brainwashing forces them to do whatever is asked of them... or else. Though for some reason, NOBODY gets fired... even when they abuse employees like throwing books at them or sexually harass them, they just get a slap on the wrist and lose a little face. The latter part of this is certainly Japanese, but in my 4 years working in Japan this was the first organization I saw that didn't fire people.

Have been with the company almost 6 years, was promoted once. That one time I got promoted I did not receive a raise. A year later I was informed I should have received one, and they adjusted my pay but no retroactive payments were made. Employer does not care for employee growth/development. They will happily let you sit in the same entry-level role for 2+ years just because they can't find someone else to do that niche crappy job. No raises or compensation for time/experience. Their performance reviews are 100% a farce, a charade. They make you rank your work on different measures 1 through 5. NO ONE EVER GETS A 5, NO ONE. And no one ever gets a 1 because a 1 means "fire them". A 2, 3, or 4 gets the exact same raise %, EXACT SAME. You can score a 3.5 - 4 and still get a 2% raise because "that's what everyone else got" that is direct quote from my manager. Their raises do not even match inflation. Managers will gaslight you - intentionally give you nonsense negative feedback just to say later you don't deserve more of a raise. They will desperately look for anything, no matter how small, to justify paying you less than you are worth. You are never allowed to discuss your compensation with anyone other than your direct manager - it is at your direct manager's discretion if you should get anything more. HR will never meet with you - requesting a meeting with HR or your boss' boss is considered insubordination because you should have gone through your manager. If you are an engineer GUARANTEED your boss' hates his job, they don't even hide it... openly talk how all they want to do is code. You will see engineer managers leaving the company to become Independent Contributors elsewhere. Diversity at this company is simply lip service. If you are a woman or a person of color you will be paid less than male counterparts. This is well known. I personally confirmed salaries with engineers in my department that left the company. I brought this up and was told my figures were not accurate, that was a lie, I had proof. Stock options are a JOKE.