Immature company in saturated parasitic market. - Anonymous employee Rakuten Employee Review

Management is COMPLETELY incompetent; none of them understand the industry, and what’s worse, they don’t seem to want to learn. Career growth is non-existent; management just gives themselves inane title changes. While most employees are friendly, those who aren’t are conspiratory and vindictive. Benefits are poor; Health: employees are saddled with half the bill (much higher than the national avg). 401k: is awful, company match is 3% and only paid out at EOY, so you miss out on any compound growth. Rakuten Shugi is evangelized to the point of dispiritedness. There are mandatory weekly meetings & mandatory off-site meetings, where they constantly talk about the great Rakuten. Here’s the rough FreeCause story, a startup company with a unique technology is founded in 06, they quickly capitalize on the market, Rakuten takes notice and buys them in 09. Rakuten takes this technology back to Japan. All of the original talent leaves (generally happens with start-ups); competitors enter the market, now FreeCause struggles to generate a monthly profit. FreeCause is an immature company. This is largely due to the inexperience of the management team. With that said, I wouldn’t rule it out; if you’re just out of school, you’ll probably love it (a laid back office with free food). However, if you consider yourself a professional, don’t care for office politics, nepotism, or hypocrisy; then I’d recommend you keep looking.