Skip to contentSkip to footer
      employer cover photo
      employer logo
      employer logo

      Rakuten Kobo

      Part of Rakuten

      Is this your company?

      Rakuten Kobo reviews

      4.2

      83% would recommend to a friend

      (261 total reviews)
      avatar

      Michael Tamblyn

      88% approve of CEO

      82% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.5

      Diversity & inclusion

      4.3

      Culture & values

      4.3

      Work/Life balance

      3.9

      Senior management

      3.9

      Career opportunities

      3.7

      Compensation and benefits

      Rakuten Kobo has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 261 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Rakuten Kobo employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      261 reviews
      4.0
      Sep 17, 2021

      Great place to learn and get started, but for me not enough incentive to stay

      Business operations analyst
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      GREAT work and product. AMAZING people. I loved working here for these reasons. Lots of trust and great problem solving work, very strong connections to the colleagues I worked with here.

      Cons

      Compared to people doing the same work at other digital retailers, for people living and working in Toronto, where the cost of living has skyrocketed in the past 5 years, the salaries are just not where they should be compared to the rest of the market or similar employers. Management moves slow, processes are not clear or communicated upon request despite transparency policies. Frustrating or unprofessional relationships within management can make it difficult to advocate for yourself.

      avatar
      Rakuten Kobo Response
      4y
      It’s great to hear that you found the work and product great, and our people to be amazing. They really are! Our employees work well together and make Rakuten Kobo a great place to be. We owe a lot of our success to them. We are sorry to hear that you didn’t have a positive experience with your manager. We provide our managers with training and development opportunities in different formats and encourage all of them to continuously develop their leadership skills. We closely review all the feedback we receive in our exit interviews and work to make improvements. We encourage our employees to provide constructive feedback to us and offer different avenues of doing so. Without feedback we might miss some opportunities for improvement. We wish to thank you for taking the time to leave your review and provide us with a detailed exit interview.
      2.0
      Jan 9, 2020

      Typical issues common in any small-mid sized company

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      - social events - free eBook program

      Cons

      - big egos in C level, specifically R&D - high turnover due to poor resource planning - unhealthy level of politics unless you're in a junior position

      avatar
      Rakuten Kobo Response
      6y
      Thank you for taking the time to share a review, we appreciate your feedback. We’re glad that you are enjoying our culture and employee perks through weekly social gatherings and free eBook & Audiobook downloads. But let’s take this opportunity to talk about some of your areas of concern around our leadership, turnover and company work culture. We invest a lot of our resources and time into training our leaders through our leadership, coaching and mentorship programs, helping to enhance their capabilities to lead teams. We are committed to providing continued coaching, guidance and strategic planning with all of our teams this year in order to strengthen our organization. If you would like to continue the conversation, we encourage you to connect with someone on our HR team who would be happy to discuss further. Thank you!
      3.0
      May 29, 2018

      Marketing department deteriorating from within

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Kobo offers great benefits, and 3 weeks vacation and has some great perks like ice cream in the summer, and extra long weekends.

      Cons

      Everything is political. The execs are too proud to admit they’ve made mistakes (esp. in hiring), and don’t listen to their employees concerns, HR is considered all but useless because changes are not made where it really matters in keeping employees happy. Turn around in the marketing department is unheard of and may cause the company’s demise unless Raluten continues to dish out the cash.

      avatar
      Rakuten Kobo Response
      7y
      Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It’s good to hear that you think we have great benefit and vacation programs and that you enjoyed the extra-long weekends in the summer. While we had some voluntary departures in our marketing department during a particularly busy period, the team has since stabilized and we are very pleased with their performance in helping to successfully launch our newest collaboration with the world’s largest retailer, Walmart.
      Viewing 31 - 33 of 261 Reviews
      Related searches: Rakuten Kobo jobs | Rakuten Kobo salaries | Rakuten Kobo benefits | Rakuten Kobo interviews
      ReviewsRakuten Kobo reviews

      Glassdoor has 328 Rakuten Kobo reviews submitted anonymously by Rakuten Kobo employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Rakuten Kobo is right for you.