sales associate

optometric technician

optician

optical assistant

team leader

LensCrafters

LensCrafters is very understaffed and overworked leading to store associates traveling from one store to the next to help cover shifts. Very low work life balance depending on what expectations the company has for you. Workers are placed in positions that they have little training for and expected to do the job perfectly. They are placed into positions where they deal with situations and issues above their title and pay. LensCrafters had some of the worst customers come in as well. Swearing, slamming on furniture, degrading, yelling, and insulting is to be expected when resolving certain customer complaints. Communication levels vary depending on what is being communicated. Goals and sales results are communicated clearly. Work performance and reasons behind being moved from one position to the next are not. Job advancement is difficult as well due to factors like favoritism, poor management, and company connections. It can take months to even be assessed for a promotion and months to be promoted following. Promotions are hard to come by as following assessment, you’re still expected to interview to actually receive the position regardless of how hard you worked or how long you’ve worked for the company. Managers do not develop their workers fairly. One employee received way more opportunities than the next. When it comes to people in the same position, your development rate is based on when you were promoted to that position not your actual skill level or capabilities. Someone can be catching on to new skills and knowledge faster than a coworker and will need to wait until the other person catches on to those same skills and gets promoted first in order for them to even be considered for a promotion. Reporting complaints to management can be difficult because of this and complaints are often overlooked and peoples bad actions are not addressed whatsoever. You can easily be blamed for the actions of others. A person can discount a pair of $500 glasses to zero, leave a door unlocked, and arrive to work constantly late and will not face any repercussions meanwhile you don’t stay late following your shift one day and face the possibility of demotion or termination. Being contacted constantly while outside of work is to be expected. There are constant calls and texts. Little recognition is given and when it is given it is given to the wrong people. The person texting and calling for help with basic work situations is given praise and rewarded meanwhile the person they text or call for help is told they are not meeting the basic requirements of their job. Work is not fairly divided whatsoever but when it does come down to recognition, it’s always a “team” effort.  Meanwhile there are team members that would rather gossip about your personal life, shoe shop, and talk on the phone, while one person is expected to do the work. And if the work isn’t done, that one person hears about it, if it is completed everyone gets a “good job team”. Coworkers vary. There are occasions where a coworker will pretend to not know who you are even after working a significant amount of time with you. An employee can not show up to work one day and no one notices. Cliques are to be expected as well. The favorite sales associate can have more access to things than a manager that has worked for the company for much longer such as approving optical measurements. Mismatches between jobs and capabilities and qualifications exist as well.   Drs working these locations vary as well. Certain drs are easy to get along with others treat their optometric technician supervisor for example like a servant. There are stores in which you can work an 8 hour shift but can NOT take a break as your working that shift solo. It’s also a customer service job so dealing with the attitudes of coworkers and customers is to be expected. A person can however have someone else harass them at work and the person doing the harassing isn’t affected but the person getting harassed is told they are the problem. There is an imbalance between who works more on the healthcare side vs who does more sales within the same position. The job is based on spiffs not commission meaning you only get money per unit sold if the company makes goal. Basic respect is not shown bc people can misspell your name so badly it’s a complete different name. Not just change or mistype one letter but actually call you a different name multiple times. At times, past managers have actually sat at a computer with their eyes closed while the sales associate was expected to do the managers job. Computers are constantly glitching and applications are constantly crashing. Managers will either work you to the max meaning many days in a row at once or will completely cut your hours. Another sales associates name can be printed on an order and there is record that they actually did the order and you can still take blame for something that goes wrong because that other associate is shown preference. Coworkers can sometimes make many inappropriate comments at you such as joking about giving mouth to mouth all the way to extremely personal questions. In terms of supervisors, you could perform a task right in front of your supervisor and they will not acknowledge that you completed it or had the capability to complete it. You can even get guilted for having a college education while your coworkers don’t. Managers will listen to a customer complain about you with open ears but when a customer praises you to management they either take all the credit for it or will actually turn their head the other way and pretend to not hear what is being said. And if you’re young, prepare to have the older workers speak over you and repeat word to word what you say to a customer to that customer again because when you say it it’s wrong but when the older coworker does it’s right. 

In all my years of corporate retail management, this was by far the worst company I have ever worked for. If you're thinking of applying because it'll be an easier form of retail, think again! The job is only 25% retail and 75% optics/healthcare yet you'll be lead to believe your current retail management experience is all you'll need to succeed - WRONG! Joining LensCrafters at the management level requires YEARS of optical experience, but you'll be assured during your interview that the company prides itself on training candidates with no former experience in optics or healthcare.

While the company does indeed higher external candidates with no former optical experience into management positions, it'll be up to YOU to develop yourself to fit company standards. The "training" you receive is only watching videos and shadowing others doing the daily operations and is very much monkey see monkey do. You will be expected to jump in and become very hands on right away. If you haven't caught on within the first month, you will be put on a PIP and the next month either asked to step down or be terminated. 

This is a company that treats everyone like a very replaceable number. If you aren't producing or catching on fast enough you will be quickly replaced and thrown away. Your best will never be good enough while you try and learn optics. You'll just be told time and time again that you aren't meeting the "hustle" and that the "pep in your step" needed to succeed just isn't there. Meanwhile, you're drowning in a whole new atmosphere because you haven't been property trained in a field that people go to SCHOOL for. As an ASM with no optical experience, it can be extremely intimating and hard to lead a team that has more experience than you do. 

The work/life balance is the worst kind you will ever find, even for a "retail" setting. The typical schedule is 10-12 hour days (open to close with NO breaks) and 46+ hour weeks with next to NO days off. As an hourly position, the overtime is nice, but just not worth the burn out. You can request time off, get it approved, only to be told the week of that you'll need to work instead. The company offers PTO, but no one can ever use or take it. Why? Because most stores are extremely short staffed either by lack of employees or lack of employees with actual optical and healthcare experience needed to run the business.

Being an OD office, the company is appointment focused. A typical day mainly revolves around scheduling appointments, running insurances, checking patients in, pretesting the patients before they see the doctor and then selling to the patients afterwards. Appointments can be booked online the very last second and walk ins are welcome. Appointments are 20 mins and the ODs will just crank them out one after another while the floor associates can't keep up causing things to get backed up and customers furious. While things are busy with appointments you'll also be dealing with customers walking in with outside RXs expecting you to drop everything to assist them with buying new glasses or adjusting their current ones.  The phone never stops ringing either and you are expected to answer it right in the middle of doing something with/for a customer. 

What will really make or break you is your locations Managing OD and how well your SMM supports you. The ODs that work for LensCrafters are some of the most condescending people you will ever work with. How the MOD chooses to run their office will determine ,not only the full success of the store, but your mental state as well. MODs can downright be hostile and mistreat the retail staff, but you will be told just to "ignore" it. All ODs that work for the company are protected and valued the most because they are seen as the ones that bring in the traffic. What the company forgets is that it's the retail side bringing in the actual money from selling to the appointments.

The customers are some of the worst kind imaginable you'll ever encounter in your life. Extremely entitled and ungrateful. You will get call after call from them SCREAMING at you "WHERE ARE MY GLASSES?" or "I CAN'T SEE OUT OF MY GLASSES!" because you're told to tell everyone "7 days" until their order arrives yet it'll be stuck for MONTHS in a lab in CHINA or because people who have no freaking idea how to sell glasses are and have completely messed them up. I also didn't like that because it was an office setting employees were required to wear masks, but customers were not.

In closing, this is a company that you will NEVER be supported by or set up to succeed, but blamed for everything instead. This is a job where you will live to work instead of work to live. This is a place that is extremely chaotic and dysfunctional because corporate leadership has no idea what they are doing. (RMs barely have any actual optical experience themselves) This is a company that will expect you to drop and give up everything to work because they pay overtime. You will be forced to work open to close most days with no breaks in between to even use the restroom! 

I warn anyone thinking that LensCrafters will be easier and better than the typical average retail position. You will be ate alive and spit out whole. THE PAY IS GOOD, BUT NOT WORTH IT! There is very little retail involved. It is all optics, healthcare, and lab work. LensCrafters is NOT a "retail" job - It's healthcare that requires extensive background in optical knowledge! 



If you’re considering a management role here, it’s important to know what you’re stepping into. The position comes with many responsibilities, but the structure and support in place make it difficult to succeed, even for someone with strong retail leadership experience.

Work–life boundaries are extremely limited. Store management is expected to be available at all times, and PTO or personal appointments are very difficult to take. It’s common to be contacted during breaks or after your shift, even when leadership can clearly see you are off the clock. Communication tends to be one-sided, with immediate replies expected but very little response or recognition in return.

Staffing support is another major challenge. Stores are often severely understaffed, yet still expected to meet high sales and customer service expectations. Hiring is slow and heavily dependent on district approval, which delays filling critical positions. In some cases, store leaders resort to using their own money to advertise openings because there is no consistent support in place.

The onboarding and training process needs improvement. It’s lengthy and often doesn’t prepare new hires for the day-to-day realities of the role. Background check delays and unclear expectations cause many new hires to leave before they ever fully begin. Those who stay often find that the most important parts of the job have to be learned on the fly, which leads to frustration and high turnover.

Sales plans and operational tools are another area to be aware of. Expectations are high, but many of the tools provided are outdated or overly complicated. Instead of offering practical coaching or helpful solutions, the company leans heavily on frequent performance conversations and a strict set of tracking tools that don’t always translate into real results.

Meetings are frequent and repetitive. The same topics are reviewed in the same cadence every week, with little new information or problem-solving. These meetings tend to highlight only the few stores meeting goals, while the majority are left without meaningful support or guidance.

Decision-making authority for managers is extremely limited. If a customer escalates an issue, upper management often overrides store decisions, which encourages customers to bypass store leadership altogether. This creates unnecessary conflict and doesn’t contribute to a positive customer experience.

Operational issues are common. The systems used for placing and tracking orders have frequent issues, and miscommunication with the lab leads to delays or incorrect orders. Store teams absorb the impact of these errors and the customer frustration that follows.

Facility maintenance is also an ongoing problem. Even serious issues like leaks or mold can remain unresolved for long periods despite repeated service requests. Stores may even be penalized for these unresolved issues during visits, which is discouraging when they are outside the store’s control.

With all that said, it’s important to acknowledge the one bright spot: the store teams themselves. Most teammates are hardworking, supportive, and committed to doing their best under difficult conditions. The people you work with will likely be the best part of the job.

This role could be fulfilling with the right support and structure, but at the moment, the challenges make it extremely demanding. If you’re considering applying, go in with a clear understanding of the expectations and be prepared for the realities of the environment. Hopefully, changes will be made in the future to give store leaders the support they need to truly succeed.

management is a very frequent issue with working at lenscrafters. youre either overstaffed or understaffed, there really is no inbetween. youll be scheduled for a certain time, then management will change it to a completely different shift 24 hours before youre supposed to come in. people who make high sales act desperate and will get very angry if you let a sale go, even if the customer is seemingly uncomfortable with being pushed to purchase something... in addition, the people who make the most sales are basically worshipped and will treat you like garbage, stealing your clients or forcing you out of making a sale. doctors just get to leave whenever they feel like it, either that or they will barely communicate with you during the patient transition, causing YOU to get in trouble for something they did not tell you or elaborate on. customers always assume glasses can get done within a day when its not achievable and they will straight up just take it out on you. management will let you get walked all over my customers, they dont care if theyre making you upset or uncomfortable. management is terrible about asking for days off, or basically get mad when you do so way ahead of time. asked my manager for the weekend off even after digitally requesting the days off 4 weeks ahead of time and they still scheduled me for those days even after VERBALLY talking to them about it. employee discounts are really bad, you get free glasses after a year of working there which although sounds good youre usually super limited on what you can actually get for free... everything is a mess in store and they actually encourage customers to bring their dogs which doesnt seem like a great idea whatsoever. it seems like no one actually wants to clean anything, the breakroom and bathrooms are just so gnarly its actually embarassing... they will cut your hours without asking you, coworkers consistenly call in sick ALL the time or just leave super early a few hours into their shift. management will make you feel stupid for making easy mistakes that even THEY will make from time to time. you need permission to do things like do measurements which gets old going back and forth , it doesnt feel like youre going to be taken seriously. everyone (except you most likely) will have tablets that will get tossed around and youll probably never get your own tablet so you have to resort to using somebody elses. you dont have a proper register so if a customer pays in cash good luck giving them their change back because you will have to ask a manager to help you. customers will be rude over the phone, in person, get mad when you run their insurance and they dont save much money. constantly encouraged to run shady deals just to make a sale, sales goals are way too ambitious and youre expected to sell multiple pairs ALL the time. management will ask you where you think you went wrong when you dont sell enough pairs of glasses for them and no matter how you answer it will most likely be the wrong. good luck getting to take your breaks as you will never be able to take any breaks or lunches. they would buy us food and leave it out for hours without refridgerating it (did not tell us) which caused me food poisoning. its a good first step if you have interest in the field but to be honest the pay and commission you get will never fill the void you feel after working 1 singular shift working with countless people who most of the time WILL upset you, make you uncomfortable, or overstay their welcome. 

Typical work day is very long. Not much time for a break. Most days only 15 minutes because there is too much to get done. There is prepping to do for every exam and every day. This needs to be done at the same time while patients are coming in every 20 minutes for exams. For the pay, it is a huge work load. typically understaffed. I  have been lucky to work at a great location with a great manager, coworkers, and doctors. However, I have helped at other locations, and I have seen how different the work environment is depending on the store. I learned a ton working here. There are trainings that need to be done every month. It is a very hands on learning experience and you definitely have to learn from mistakes. Management changes within the last year, and it has become better in my eyes. The new regional manager has worked so hard and worked retail for years at LensCrafters. This is good because he knows exactly how stressful it is to be an employee. He has shown that he actually cares about employees, instead of viewing everyone as replaceable. There are virtually no part-time benefits. I'm still not sure what benefits I really have. The years I worked i worked lots of weekends. Mostly Saturdays. At least three a month. But now that I think about it, I'm not sure what exactly the availability for part-time employees is supposed to be, versus full time. it is a fast paced work environment, but I somewhat enjoyed that because it kept me busy instead of just sitting around. It is interesting working with the doctors. You really learn a lot working here. work-life balance could definitely be better but I know what I signed up for. retail is retail. Again, I was lucky enough to have a fantastic manager and team. We all worked together to make sure we felt satisfied. unfortunately, it is very hard to move up and the pay is not great. they are more likely to hire externally, than give raises or promotions internally.  Most days you come out of work exhausted. And then you have to just do it again the next day. It is very mentally draining, but also rewarding at the same time. The reason it is rewarding is because of patient relationships. you really get to build bonds with patients and it feels great to help people get what they need. I love helping people.  I have learned so many things including patient care, pulling insurance, dealing with other optometry offices, and sales. The optical world is very interesting and it felt like I learned more and more every day. There is always something to learn. Not to mention, I enjoyed all the experiences with patients, bad or good. It does take a certain character for that though. Not everyone is ready or willing to help people. but that is what I enjoy. I learned tons and I am actually considering applying to optometry school. 

This company will chew you up and spit you out. 

The culture has become overly corporate, and employees no longer feel valued. The store I worked for has had 3 store managers in one year. 

A typical day for manager includes - Filling out overly complex business acumen tools, printing and posting reports, scheduling, and monitoring sales and selling. You are expected to know and recite the sales equation and predict your future business. You are to be available even when you are off. If your business is doing poorly, you are under intense pressure and scrutiny. No excuses are allowed. No Grace is given. 

A typical day for the associate is to be a part of the daily huddles where sales goals are discussed. There is constant scrutiny and pressure to meet KPIs and sales targets. Written Coaching happens weekly and focuses heavily on weaknesses, which is honestly demoralizing. 

Burnout is high because so much is expected of you with little support, morale is low because no matter what you do it is never good enough, and no one seems happy. 

I learned that when a workplace prioritizes numbers over people, both employees and customers suffer. Constant pressure without meaningful support leads to burnout, not growth, and overly complex tools don’t replace strong leadership or appreciation. Being focused only on weaknesses erodes morale, and over time customers are treated like transactions instead of people. Most importantly, I learned to recognize when a job is costing me my mental health. 

The hardest part of the job was the constant pressure to meet ever-increasing sales and KPI expectations without adequate staffing, support, or recognition. The environment at LensCrafters was highly scrutinized, with frequent coaching focused on weaknesses rather than growth, which made the work mentally exhausting and demoralizing over time.

The most enjoyable part of the job were the customers. I really enjoy people. I could tell I was in the wrong environment when I couldn’t be myself with my customers. 

The pay was decent too. However, for me it is far more important that I enjoy where I work than how much I make. I really hope LensCrafters’s can change their attitude and corporate structure. I feel that this culture is rooted at the top. 






Started off decently, there is a LOT to learn, and staring at an iPad for 5+ hours per shift for TWO WEEKS almost drove me insane. The information you "learn" in the modules is also hardly practical; it's just non stop praising of the different glasses brands. The actual useful information to do your job wasn't taught to me until I was already on the floor, and then mandated to read the modules on it months after I already knew what to do.

Management starts off fairly nice and patient between learning sales, the programs to select frames, insurance, appointments, etc. But it quickly changes when they think you know enough, despite telling me it usually takes 6 or more months to really be comfortable with all the product knowledge and sales techniques. I was now expected to sell multiple pairs, with the best lenses, and a protection plan on each pair, at 2 months in. Even when making successful sales, you're questioned on why they didn't upgrade this, or buy THREE pairs for one child. You're made to feel stupid and that if your sale isn't $400+, it was worthless. All of this is expected of you while making $2 over minimum wage. Your "compensation" is approximately $7 per pair sold, regardless of anything else. Once sold a $1200 pair, and got less than a half-hour's worth of pay for it.

Once management thinks you won't/can't sell, your hours get cut. And I don't mean "sales are low for the whole store, we don't have any hours to go around", I mean ONE five-hour shift per week. Meanwhile, there are *four* managers getting full time and OT. 

The "positives" section won't take long. The job itself, despite needing to learn a lot, is pretty easy and I actually found it enjoyable, entering insurance information, pulling up files and previous sales to get a similar pair. Grumpy customers are pretty rare and most people are really happy to just talk with you while you look through frames with them. If you are a glasses wearer yourself, you get a free eye exam, and MASSIVE discounts on frames and lenses every couple months. Although management will STILL try to get you to buy more; they even tried to get my boyfriend to buy sunglasses he didn't need...

Summary: Steep learning curve for easy work, but constant sales pressure for low pay. If you aren't born to sell, enjoy your one shift a week.

Lenscrafters (LC) is a decent place to work considering all you need is a high school diploma to get started, despite which it offers pretty good pay (at first). So with that in mind it's a pretty good jumping off point. This is especially the case since the company is pretty invested in giving employees opportunities to improve their optical knowledge beyond just work training. For example: there's an apprenticeship program that is provided by the company that you can do while you work; however, you have to pay for the books and tests but I think you get reimbursed for the tests at least (that is if you pass). Said program allows you to become a licensed optician (LO) within the Commonwealth of VA (I'm sure in other states as well but I'm in VA) which opens up a lot of opportunities. I've seen many LO's go on to get pretty great jobs at other optical retailers or private doctor's offices. The company will even reimburse part of your education if you go on to study optometry and I think ophthalmology as well (not 100% sure on the ophthalmology though). 

The biggest problem is the work culture. The company and the individual stores don't really care much about fostering a professional, respectful environment among the workers (including managers). Whether you work in a store where you can expect a little professionalism and respect really just depends on the individuals who work there. Also, although the pay is pretty good to start, the way they some stores/managers decide who gets paid what can be pretty arbitrary. For some there's really little incentive to improve their optical knowledge as doing so doesn't really guarantee a raise. I knew a sales associate who quit multiple times and got raise each time he came back, eventually he was getting paid more than an LO. This is why most people who do get licensed leave and work for Costco Optical, a private doctor, Kaiser, or some other optical company that offers better and less arbitrary compensation.

When I started with the company, I absolutely loved the change of environment and pace. I had already had some knowledge of optics and optometry since I've worn glasses since i was 10 and I started with the company during my last year of college at around 21. My first boss in one of the Orange County locations...(right off the 5 freeway in between Tustin and Santa Ana) was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. To this day, I'm grateful because she and the staff there were truly passionate about what they were doing and believed that they were making some sort of impact on someone's life when it came to their eyesight. I've learned all sorts of things from adjustments, materials, refraction, base curves, etc. They trained me well. Insurances are a breeze, pre-assessments and contact lens trainings and educations are no problem... The store I transferred to, however in LA County was absolutely money-hungry, had no passion, was and still is catty between the employees, there's speculation of romantic involvement between two employees that led to a coworker with less experience and talent than I getting promoted to Assistant Manager (how does that happen??), the regional was even worse, and no one seemed to care or even bother remembering that they were directly handling someone's vision. Recklessness was absolutely rampant. It had been so long since I felt unappreciated at a job that I almost forgot that I, unlike so many of my "superiors" have a University degree and that I have ample opportunity elsewhere. The one cool benefit was free eye exams, a free pair of glasses (to the nines!) on your anniversary of employment, and 75% off employee discount sales. That's it. Until they change the management style of this chain around, I can't say I'm surprised as to why they are losing customers to online glasses retailers (though they will NEVER get your adjustments right...I mean...it's online, they can't fit you like we we can for your frames.)

Love working with the on-location doctor and learning the technical aspects of lens inspection, adjustments, measurements, and lens/frame selection based on rx. I even love helping the doctor's side out in our sublease location with creating training materials and helping with insurance claims. My main problem with the company lies in what I believe are unrealistic sales goals (doctor is only in 3 days a week) for the amount of traffic we see, as well as poor professionalism from management when it came to customer service. I have customers tell me frequently that they only come in when they see my manager is not in because they had poor experiences with him. Previously, my manager was doing asset protection and it mostly translated to a “guilty-until-proven-innocent” attitude toward myself and my co-workers whenever an issue or perceived issue arose. No health benefits for part-timers here, and no opportunity to become full-time at sublease locations, though 401k match is great. Overall, love the job but don’t feel the pay is worth the amount of knowledge and training you need when considering all the office drama and how customer service takes a backseat to sales goals and percentages. Advice to the company from a lowly associate: if you treat your customers right, they will come back and bring their friends/family and its disgusting to treat patients of our doctors poorly when they are the ones that bring the sales every year. Also, maybe hire managers internally from optical so they actually know what they are doing besides just sales.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 109 salaries reported	$16.81 per hour
Optometric technician 34 salaries reported	$18.39 per hour
Optician 38 salaries reported	$23.02 per hour
Optical assistant 12 salaries reported	$13.17 per hour
Team leader 21 salaries reported	$21.44 per hour

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