Pros
-Snacks (but they were usually stocked in the morning and out by 10am; it was also frowned upon if employees were taking snacks from sister companies in the same building (i.e. Vicki employees taking snacks from Rakuten Intelligence, etc.) -Lunch (although be warned you were limited to 1 serving = 1 plate) esp at lunch -Japanese culture of cleanliness and being tidy
Cons
-The company had a high turnover on the leadership team and IC resulting in unstable leadership to constant refined strategies/goals ending in lack of productivity/results or delayed timelines. -Top down heavy; too many cooks in the kitchen; leadership members didn’t align with goals/strategies, etc., which created an unhealthy environment hence goals were difficult to attain with constant changes. This also means a mentality of “get on the bus or get off” so there wasn’t a genuine partnership across functional teams where employees and leadership felt valued and engaged to do their best work for the company and clienteles. -Global company with parent company in Japan. Mickey brought some of his Japanese “friends” to lead the US office in San Mateo trying to instill the Japanese culture in a company in the US and with leaders from Europe is a bad mix. I mean different people and personalities turn small businesses into profitable corporate entities, but with prideful men and women with no compassion or empathy for employees and human beings in general, is/was a recipe for disaster - not an environment for anyone. -”favorites” of Mickey (CEO of parent company Rakuten) believed they were able to run s*&% to their liking (for example, people were scolded for taking individual boxes of tissue paper for their desk too frequent during allergy season especially in the spring, etc.). Come on! Tissue paper is heavily used with the bad air circulation in the building combined with seasonal allergies SMH -New hires and promotions were awarded based on your relationship with the leadership team; promotions and offers were extended based on how you sell yourself which meant brown nosing the interviewers or like minded individuals. Imagine one rotten apple recruiting more rotten apples created a basket full of rotten apples and no one wants to be around rotten apples. This is another cause for high turnover because interviewers weren’t calibrated to set a high bar to bring in competent, talented individuals or leadership to help grow their team and make the company successful. -Don’t be fooled by the positive reviews here on Glassdoor; those are individuals who were probably harassed/paid to write the review and/or one of Mickey’s or a leadership team member’s favorite or in his/her circle -Career suicide - you’ll ruin your career joining Rakuten (they were on the worst employers to work for list); they have all the sponsorships and partnerships to lure you in and once you’re in, it’s a nightmare of being treated worse than a dog on the streets.
