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The Pokémon Company International

Engaged Employer

This place is run like a small mom & pop shop - very frugal - Anonymous employee The Pokémon Company International Employee Review

1.0
Dec 14, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Few worker bees who are friendly. Office location with great views Free Starbucks coffee

Cons

Very poor leadership and management style - the President prefers to work from home rather than come into the office everyday and interact with his staff or direct reports. The President's complaint is that he can't focus on his job with the constant distractions. How do you run a $650 million company from home? Whenever someone has to reach the President, they would have to text him and whenever he finds the time, he will respond. No one knows his schedule for the week or day. My manager was a micro manager and clearly demonstrated favoritism and insecurity. Most of the time, my manager preferred to spend their time on slack complaining about how miserable they feel at work, or gossiping about the details about everyone's personal issues or which wine they should shop for online to have it delivered at home before the end of the day. It must be a wonderful life to get paid 6 figures, walk into the office at 10:00am and leave work at 3:00pm and announce it to your coworkers that you have been up all night working. Its very common for employees to attend to personal errands [like massage appointments, shopping at Nordstrom and getting their nails painted or hitting the gym for 3 hours] during the middle of the day and not blocking their calendars to indicate you are unavailable for meetings. The motto of the company is "set people up for failure so that they can learn a lesson". My coworkers were prone to using statements like "not the smartest crayon in the box" The open floor plan is too distracting. Almost 95% of the time employees are socializing and then complain they have too much to do and not enough time. The full time employees prefer to shirk their responsibilities to the contingency workers and not thank them for covering up for them. Confidential and Personnel files are left in cardboard boxes in conference rooms instead of a secure filing cabinet. Certain marginalized communities aren't hired into the company. With the growth the company has experienced in the past year or so, the company is predominantly consisted of bald white men. You can count the number of people of color work in the whole company. Too many employees who have worked for Pokemon for number of years and have the sense of entitlement and arrogance. The performance reviews and bonuses are based on who is well liked by the boss and due credit for hard work not given. Pay scale well below the market price. They are very vocal about not hiring from startups or big technology companies like Amazon or Microsoft and yet most of the leadership is from those same companies - contradictions and hypocrites are plentiful. Very flat organization with no room for professional growth or promotion. Hired too many bad apples who aren't competent enough to work in the technical or non technical space. You can't be too good at what you do. Instead of congratulating you for your success, you invite jealously, ridicule and sabotage. Lack of transparency in communications, changes within the organization or process. Certain employees get preferential treatment in work schedules, responsibilities and work ethics.

Explore other reviews about The Pokémon Company International

5.0
Oct 7, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Incredible benefits, good hours, not much overtime, great working environment, team is great

Cons

Unorganized department, but it's getting better.

1
2.0
May 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Some genuinely kind and talented colleagues - Opportunity to work on Pokémon-related projects - Flexible remote/hybrid options at times

Cons

The workplace culture was highly toxic and psychologically unsafe despite the company’s public emphasis on inclusivity and employee well-being. Leadership frequently dangled full-time conversion with no follow-through, creating false hope and significant stress for contractors. I often dealt with unrealistic deadlines and workload, poorly defined project scopes, and shifting expectations were common, leading to burnout. I personally experienced repeated boundary-crossing behavior from a senior leader, including unwanted physical touch and lingering stares that made me and other women extremely uncomfortable. I was afraid to voice my discomfort for fear of being let go. After I pushed back on unrealistic project demands and unclear expectations, I was removed from the project and my contract was terminated shortly afterward under the vague reason of “staffing needs changes,” despite the team being overloaded with work. The environment was marked by favoritism, gossip, and narrative-spinning from leadership. It was a demoralizing and exhausting stint of work.

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