sales associate

stylist

optometrist

store manager

optician

Bailey Nelson

When I first began here, it was exciting and deemed to be very promising. This place had real potential but fell so quickly into the negative hole of corporate.
As time went on, red flags began to appear and they became VERY difficult to ignore. There is a massive amount of self training on the job, majority of staff have no optical background but yet after a couple of months you are expected to know an equivalent amount of knowledge as an optician without the proper training or support. Keep in mind, there isn’t even opticians working at each location, and in an industry that involves people’s health and sight, this is unacceptable. Overtime, it became clear understaffing is a result to mass turnover due to staff being overworked and under appreciated. This includes upper management and people who work in their corporate offices. They focused so hard on opening stores so quickly and at high numbers, they failed to expand their offices and staff to reflect this, there were major steps missed and overlooked. Stores weren’t set up with proper tools to succeed, store managers tried to maintain a positive environment but clearly were struggling for support from upper management. There is no work life balance, when issues were brought up to upper management, they either began blaming those of workers past or talked a big game to make you feel supported, but sadly with no action to follow. They have staff who are incredible and willing to work extremely hard and are capable of helping the company progress, but sadly you see their fire fade as this is taken advantage of and before long they have already left due to lack of appreciation and this willingness being taken advantage of. They do not rehire in most cases and those responsibilities are left on the fellow staff members with no compensation. It sad to think how many incredible staff members have come and gone, doctors included, due to the lack of respect that’s unreciprocated towards staff. 
With nearly a decade with experience in corporate, this was by far the most disappointing. 

I started my career at Bailey Nelson with my first day being at our national convention and I was able to see right away it’s three core values lived. Closely knit, down to earth, constantly improving. The entire team of managers/leaders across the country were incredibly friendly and welcoming and eager to learn how to grow the business. I left inspired and ready to take on my new role. 

Like most retail roles the job is both fun and challenging. Constantly improving means constantly striving for excellence and finding solutions to achieving your goals. This is not a great job for anyone who is complacent or unengaged or just wants to clock in and out. Goals will push you but are reasonable and achievable and I’ve found we always achieve our monthly bonuses which are generous and motivating. Building a team and seeing them grow in confidence and achieve their targets and bonuses is rewarding. 

My regional is extremely supportive and truly cares. Upper leadership is also very supportive and being a smaller company you will get to know everyone personally. Concerns are  largely heard and coming from a larger corporate background it’s been surprising how quickly fixed can be made. 

The optical industry is very rewarding and it feels good to get people into our high quality and well priced product. This is a company whose product you can believe in. 

The biggest challenge is a standard retail one: labour hours. There never seems to be enough to deliver to full potential. Part time staff don’t have a lot of hours so they can be hard to train and retain long term. This is a complex industry and can be overwhelming to those who don’t come from an optical background.  Sometimes we over focus on specific KPIs and this can be frustrating and demotivating. 

This is a fast growing company and things move quickly. 

Working for this company has been the worst professional experience I’ve had. Initially, the job seemed promising, with a supportive team and a positive atmosphere. However, everything took a nosedive when the company restructured and key regional managers and competent staff departed.

The new regional manager was inexperienced, unqualified, and completely unable to support an educated and capable team. They often made decisions that were not only unreasonable but also detrimental to both the staff and the company. Their approach was heavy-handed, with frequent interventions in situations where they had made empty promises, creating a toxic work environment.

Work-life balance was non-existent. The company placed unreasonable expectations on an already overburdened and understaffed team. They continually promised to hire more staff but would backtrack at the last minute, citing unattainable KPIs as the reason. This left the remaining staff to shoulder an even greater load, with responsibilities that far exceeded their roles.

The company also showed a complete disregard for the optometry industry, degrading its standards by focusing solely on numbers rather than quality care. The lack of accountability was appalling. When things went wrong, instead of addressing the issues, the regional manager blamed those who had left or were no longer there, refusing to take any responsibility for their failures.

It was disheartening to see long-term employees, who had put in lengthy time with the company, leaving because they felt disrespected and unappreciated. The gossip, cliquish behavior, and lack of accountability among the remaining staff created a disturbing work culture.

Overall, this company was a nightmare to work for. The initial promise quickly turned into a miserable and disrespectful environment, leaving employees feeling undervalued and burnt out. I would not recommend this company to anyone looking for a stable and supportive workplace.

The company has become increasingly defined by unrealistic pressure, shrinking support for frontline teams, and deeply ineffective senior leadership.

The most significant issue is senior leadership incompetence. Many senior leaders, particularly at the regional level, appear to operate with far more emphasis on motivational rhetoric and performative positivity than actual business acumen, operational problem-solving, or meaningful support. There is often a great deal of energy around “hype,” culture language, and positivity messaging, but little substance behind it.

Rather than adding value, regional leadership lacks understanding of store economics, labour realities, operational constraints, or what actually drives sustainable performance. Instead of removing barriers for teams, leadership often creates additional pressure while offering little to no practical guidance. In many cases, it has felt as though stores succeed in spite of regional and senior leadership, not because of it.

There is also a troubling culture of favoritism, where loud personalities and those close with senior leadership often seem rewarded over proven performance, competence, or professionalism. Merit does not always appear to drive recognition or advancement.

Meanwhile, frontline expectations continue to escalate while resources are pulled away. Labour hours are cut, responsibilities increase, and new initiatives are layered on constantly. When mistakes are made at senior levels, the burden often falls back on stores through reduced support, higher targets, or greater emphasis on upselling.

What is most frustrating is that there are many talented people at store level doing exceptional work, but they are too often undermined by weak leadership, poor judgment, and a culture that confuses toxic positivity with competence.

You can save yourself a ton of disappointment by not working here. Never had I felt so let down by upper management. They will butter you up when they need you, managers will verbally tell you about getting promoted, but as soon as they don’t need you or you slightly cross them, they will take back their word. They will almost kiss your feet when they need your help but as soon as they don’t, they will treat you like a disposable. 

I started working here when a store was DESPERATE for someone to take up the hours, as the three management people were either fired or left. Imagine taking on full-time hours on a part-time contract at a store that has NO MANAGER, NO OPTICIAN FOR MONTHS. They will name drop you in official company group chats if you did something wrong, but nobody will ever take responsibility for the fact that your store had no guidance or leadership for months. As a stylist with nobody to turn to, I felt so helpless. Of all the things you will do right, they will only ever recognize your “shortcomings.” And on top of that, other store managers will sabotage your store just to keep their own store’s records clean. Upper management is aware that this happens and they don’t care!  You can show up for the hours, make your goals, but as soon as you are asked to work on your day off because someone else called in sick and you say no, there will be no more room for you to move up. It’s a joke! The burden is put on part-time contracts and upper management makes you feel bad for being sick AND for not showing up on your day off when someone else is sick.

Seriously don’t work here. I cannot stress enough. The culture they cultivate is toxic and if you care about your mental health you will not work here. 

The bad far outweighs the good about working for Bailey Nelson, be prepared to get taken advantage of! As an eyewear stylist you’re expected to do the work of an optician which is a joke considering you’re only getting paid a retail wage. 
Management in store is extremely cliquey complete with going in the back or leaving the store to gossip (A throwback to 8th grade in school). Some of the behaviour towards staff is so rude and unprofessional, cultivating a very hostile work environment. They act like vultures looking for any mistake you’ve made and take great pleasure in swooping down to pick at you. It’s obvious to see that it’s being done to make themselves feel better as they’re very reluctant to give you any positive feedback, thriving only on giving negative. The company promotes 3 core values, “tight knit, down to earth and Constantly improving” it’s laughable how far away from these values they are and BN really need to give more attention to store management. There’s a high turnover in staff and a clear disconnect between management and retail associates which indicates that more needs to be done so everyone can work cohesively and to feel appreciated. 

I was hired as a full time  optician and honestly really under valued. Very little life work balance when it came to scheduling, wanted me to work every weekend and only random weekdays off and often would schedule for the late night shifts also. I also found it weird they would utilize and optician for after hours store re-merchandising but whatever.  The upper management were also clearly friends outside of work and were very cliquey which made it really awkward for anyone else around them when they were in store together because they basically ignored all other employees and talked about their personal lives. I often found that my knowledge and skills were often questioned especially by the manager of the store I was working at even though she has no prior experience in the industry. They really just treated their opticians as nothing and not the licences healthcare professionals that they are. I went to school, passed a national licensing exam and do the required continuing education required by the regulating board so you would think they would value and appreciate these people the most. The only time I did feel valued by this company was when I put in my notice of resignation and they realized they were going to lose one of the few opticians they had working for them. 

Working at Bailey Nelson has helped me grow my leadership and retail skills in an environment where I truly enjoy coming to work- and especially enjoy who I work with. It's a growing brand, so there are definitely some growing pains and it can sometimes feel like there is a lot of change, but the changes are always for the better, and the senior management team is not afraid to pivot when it feels like that will be what's right for the store teams. 
Over the past few years, our brand and product has been seriously elevated and the company is investing in store renovations and improvements to our supply chain, which has meant much cooler product and improvements to lens quality. 
After many years in corporate retail it's cool to work at a brand that's as big as BN but still very true to their values- the CEO/ co-founder will call Store Managers personally to congratulate them on milestones and thank them for their work.

What is the best part of working at the company?
I've grown personally and professionally in my time here at Bailey Nelson. I'm true to who I am and I'm 100% valued for that. I have been approached by other companies regarding new opportunities. It speaks volumes about my experience here that I can sincerely tell them I am very happy in my current role.  Best company I have ever worked for!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
People management in general can be stressful. Adapting to the needs of all types of personalities. Being emphathetic but still needing to drive results can sometimes be challenging.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Being true to who you are is the culture of Bailey Nelson. Authenticity is the driving force. We are here to help people with their eye care needs not simply to just sell glasses. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Depends on the day! I'm in stores 3 days a week and I enjoy this most of all. Spending time with my managers and building relationships with the entire team and doctors.

Bailey Nelson is a good job to get your foot in the door in the Optical world, but it is not good for advancement or if you have background in the industry. Management will undermine and question your knowledge if it is not “Bailey Nelson” standard even if you’ve been educated in Optical. Upper management is so disorganized and cliquey, and don’t care about the hardworking staff that run the stores. My location was without management for MONTHS and I (along with 2 other coworkers) were overworked, underpaid and not appreciated all while  upper management did nothing about it and kept screwing us over and over again. Upper management also seems to play favouritism for more “trendy” locations. Pay raises don’t happen by job performance, they “test” you on your knowledge and you have to study for these test, unpaid for your time. Managers tend to hire a lot of young lazy people who just stand around on their phones all day. The only reasons I have stayed for this long is because of the slightly higher pay and friendships with some coworkers. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales associate 163 salaries reported	$18.83 per hour
Stylist 99 salaries reported	$17.77 per hour
Optometrist 4 salaries reported	$750 per day
Store manager 46 salaries reported	$69,543 per year
Optician 17 salaries reported	$28.68 per hour

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