Perfect employer if you hate yourself and do not care about your career - Software Engineer Rakuten Employee Review

1.0
15 Dec 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

At some point they used to offer free lunch everyday. That was discontinued.

Cons

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.

Explore other reviews about Rakuten

5.0
25 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Rakuten Rewards has great life balance. Too bad the economy was getting rocked.

Cons

Don't really have any cons. I understand that the market's been hard so had to downsize the force, so that was kinda challenging. Hopefully AI will increase everyone's output.

4.0
22 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexible Hours, Benefits, Pay, lunch provided 3 days per week,

Cons

There were no cons while I was there

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