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Walman Optical

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Walman Optical reviews

3.1

48% would recommend to a friend

(71 total reviews)

Marty Bassett

52% approve of CEO

41% positive business outlook

Walman Optical has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 71 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Walman Optical employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

71 reviews
2.0
Jan 6, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Was an ESOP company up until March 2021 Was a steady paycheck and actually a good place to work until April 2020 . Life insurance and supplemental life insurance was available for cheap. I was a valued employee there until they saw that after 14 straight months of mandated masking, I could no longer handle it. Once I broke down and said I could not live like this anymore, they saw me as expendable.

Cons

Prior to March 25, 2021, Walman Optical was an ESOP company but they decided to sell the company to Essilor-Luxotica. So they decided that anyone working there would end up getting something like double the value of their ESOP since once the buyout is complete, people would get their money, but the company would no longer be an ESOP company. Have kept a mask policy that did not prevent anyone from getting and spreading the virus since April 2020 and absolutely refused to lift it when Governor Walz lifted the mandate on May 14, 2021. They keep employees in a department for many years with no opportunity to grow or cross train into another department. I had to work there for over 7 years before I saw wages over $17/hour. Treat anyone who expresses dissent as "crazy".

1.0
May 11, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The only reason people have stayed at this toxic place that uses lead and other deadly chemicals is the ESOP.

Cons

This company has to be the worst company to work for they don't care about their employees or how other employees have affected them. I have heard employees make fun of people with disabilities and watched management get rid of people who have gone to hr about complaints and get in trouble if they can't work fast enough.

2.0
Jan 12, 2017

Management would replace workers with robots if they could...

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Interesting line of work, ESOP benefits are fantastic in this day and age (if you can survive long enough to become vested in your share that is), and fair amount of autonomy in particular positions. If management cleaned up a bit, this would be a fantastic job, perhaps even for a lifetime.

Cons

Management tends to be...greedy, considering they're the ones who truly benefit from ESOP by keeping turnover rate just high enough by booting others out of the program before vestment, kicking the funds back to themselves in their secure position within the company. Often a negative atmosphere (people hardly ever seem happy, probably die to being treated as nothing more than robots or else face the potential consequence of being replaced by one), and just overall bad company culture (advancement opportunities are there, but work/life balance will suffer until you finally "make it" IF you ever do). Don't volunteer working an hour or more of overtime or weekends thinking you'll be pardoned on the occasional tardy (even 1-2 minutes!). They are penny pinchers to nth degree, and you better be as well going into employment at an employee owned company (not "employee operated" though of course).

Viewing 4 - 6 of 71 Reviews

Glassdoor has 73 Walman Optical reviews submitted anonymously by Walman Optical employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Walman Optical is right for you.