optometrist

store manager

optical assistant

retail assistant manager

manager

Oscar Wylee

I've been with the company since the opening of their first store, there was a lot of miscommunication and two faced, backstabbing behavior going on from head office, but it's safe to say that the management style has improved drastically since then. 

It’s a good company to work at casually as they offer slightly higher salaries than other places if you have some optical background. As a full time however, you might find yourself feeling expendable and easily replaced by any other person; throughout the six years I have been with the company, the price of the products has inflated 3-4 times while my salary remained the same (with the exception of promotions; but salary remained at base rate of the position even after years of experience in that role), there weren’t any regular reviews for the staff, only reviews for the store and what else the manager can do to create more profit for the company. Management can get pushy if performance stalemates and it's generally up to the manager to "be the bad guy" and cut casuals' shifts.

The work experience can vary depending on which location you are stationed. My team is definitely the best thing about working in Oscar Wylee despite the fast turnover time every year. I don’t feel like the company values their staff enough and it has been very demotivating and uninspiring to work here when we are treated like machines. I feel undervalued and unmotivated most days since it doesn't matter if we meet KPI targets, higher ups will always want us to achieve bigger and higher sales with little to no incentive or praise. 

This job has however taught me all I know about the optics industry as well as retail. I've gained an immense amount of knowledge in customer service, communication, time management and other useful skills during my time here. It's a lovely work environment and a lot of fun when you fit in with your team and it can also be rewarding to help the customer find something they love.

Staff are consistently expected to work outside of contracted hours and overtime is not on offer. These extra hours are not tracked and are never given accurately in lieu. Flexibility to hours is not on offer no matter how many of these overtime hours are worked. (unless you are the manager)

This combined with already very low salaries and low staff rewards does not foster a motivated workplace. 

Management has little to no access to offer any incentives to drive and motivate their staff - as well as little opportunity to have positive impact on KPIs. Ideas and suggestions from management are rarely taken into consideration and head office can be extremely condescending.  
Never hear from state or area managers unless the store is not performing or having people issues.

Absolutely no work culture, stores have no access to statistics of other stores to compare successes, and competition between stores is discouraged. No platform for feedback as it is not asked for or facilitated, there is no opportunity to express concerns. 

Staff are under qualified and training is brief.

Management routinely checks security footage of the store during days they did not work to check on staff behaviour. 

On the upside there is plenty of opportunity for progression as staff turnover is high.

If you get the right team you might still have fun at your job day to day but the management and expectations are ridiculous. If you prove you can do something once even if it was a stroke of luck then you get to do that forever. Started out great as a casual but the workload from a casual to eventually being a manager is incomparable workload and not enough pay. They supposedly do check ins twice a year and reward you with a pay rise but over almost three years told I didn’t “quite make the cut” but was never explained what I needed to improve to get the pay rise. There’s a huge staff turnover because you get so burnt out trying to manager your work with no support. Everyone but one person, my store and nearby stores for two years left for roles lower than they were in with Oscar but more money and better work life balance. During covid had the whole team out as we all got it - didn’t go to work since we were all positive and this is supposed to be a health care job. All we got was in trouble that the store had no staff to open as even the optometrist had covid. No concern - just mad we couldn’t open to make them money while everyone was sick. I wouldn’t recommended this company for anyone with or without optical experience unless you like being over worked and under paid.  

The company preaches their core values, but really, these are expectations from Head Office for the store teams, not values that are lived from the top down.

Ultimately, you are nothing more than a number to the company’s upper management. Even offer’s presented to you in writing cannot be reasonably expected to be fulfilled. At the time I left the company, there were many people I was aware of that were being paid below award wages, and the company did not seem to care about this when made aware. They work aggressively to keep their wages down, despite being well below market rate for the specialty retail field that they sit within.

The people you work alongside in store can go one way or another, and it’s possible to have a strong in store culture, however due to a horrendously toxic culture from the top down, staff retention is outrageously high, so a good culture one month can change dramatically the next.

A staff member at Oscar Wylee typically does not stick around for more than 12-18 months. I saw many cases of people not lasting more than a handful of weeks. Save yourself the stress and burnout, and work somewhere else.

The team was amazing and super helpful in guiding me into opticals and we had an amazing assistant manager that supported me throughout the whole onboarding process.

However, everything became complicated when new management was implemented. Most of our team felt that we were unsupported during shifts and a few staff were not getting enough hours due to favourtism. He was also often seen leaving early than his intended work hours, which caused problems for staff on the floor. We also had to troubleshoot a lot of issues as staffs due to manager's unwillingness and incapability to learn.

Due to the manager's lack of responsibilities and favourtism, our work environment became negatively impacted resulting in my resignation due to poor communication and unfair hours between casual staffs.

I really love the team environment and just the vibes at the store in general that im experiencing at oscar wylee so much better then specsavers absolutely love the retail side but the managent from area managers and hr are super poor theres no support at all and they expect you to do everything yourself, ive noticed a few issues with stuff within the store and been told that the area manager doesnt wanna do anything about it which is ridiculous, its just all over the place and the other upsetting thing is im getting a pay rate as an assistant manager the same as a full time/part time role would get, i was earning more as a part timer in my old job…

This company is very money driven and only care about meeting targets and making sales. There is little to no regard to their staff with management and store managers treating their staff like they're nothing. Company has removed ALL incentives and provide no motivation or encouragement for staff members to perform to the level that they expect. 

Manager was verbally abusive and would make you feel extremely guilty for wanting to take time off or when a sick day was required to be taken. I'm not sure how that creates an enjoyable and cooperative workplace culture, but Oscar Wylee definitely does not oversee a lot of these things.

Worked for this company for under a year and it was the worst experience I've ever had. As a store manager, my area manager was useless. expectations were completely unrealistic. very little support from upper management and company head office. They screwed me and other staff over because they were lazy to do the right thing. It is a new company with little experience and constantly changing things. 
The quality of their products was terrible as well, which meant we had to deal with so many complaints with very little support.

I enjoyed my year of working at Oscar Wylee , and as a casual I took in shifts when we didn’t have a manger . As I was flexi able I think I should’ve been respected more for helping the team  when they needed someone because I feel like I wasn’t appreciated as a team member for the work I’ve done there . 

The hours given was unacceptable and it just wasn’t worth it for trying and giving so much when I was not getting anything in return . When the new management came on board it just became more unbearable with the hours and lack of experience that put me and staff with more work to deal with . Even though I learnt new skills and knowledge i just don’t think as a staff we were valued . 

My time at Oscar Wylee was marred with false promises and no help from upper management. Consistently cut shifts when stores weren’t preforming. More focus on making money, rather than helping people with their eye sight. Little to no training at all, the lack of communication between management and staff was outstanding. Furthermore the lack of acceptance and accountability in regards to their “eye care for eye care program was abhorrent.

Avoid at all costs, thoroughly depressing and no room for improvement.

The accent group of optics.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Optometrist 1 salary reported	$80.00 per hour
Store manager 10 salaries reported	$60,430 per year
Optical assistant 1 salary reported	$32.50 per hour
Retail assistant manager 3 salaries reported	$32.10 per hour
Manager 3 salaries reported	$55,333 per year

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