The Spescavers team celebrate its win.
Specsavers has been named Australia’s ‘Best Workplace’ for 2026 in the Great Place to Work survey, ranking first nationally in the large business category.
Specsavers said the recognition is based on confidential feedback from more than 6,900 Australian Specsavers team members including 1,200 optometrists, representing 76% of Specsavers’ Australian optometrist workforce.
Of those surveyed, 87% agreed that Specsavers is a great place to work.
“This achievement is a testament to the passion, insights and ideas of our optometrists,” said Specsavers Clinical Director, Dr Ben Ashby.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have a workforce of optometrists and team members who share valuable feedback about what it’s like to work at Specsavers.
We’re proud of the difference our optometrists make for all Australians, and we’re even prouder that more than 87% say Specsavers is a great place to work and that they feel proud to tell others they work here
“As Australia’s largest provider of eyecare services, our optometrists work together to provide bulk-billed eye tests, including OCT (optical coherence tomography) scans on every patient at no cost, for more than five million people across the nation each year. We’ve improved the rates of avoidable blindness detection to 94% and increased myopia management accessibility to 50%,” Dr Ashby said.
He said the survey results highlighted that Specsavers optometrists felt “trusted and supported, with clinical autonomy and opportunities for wellbeing and professional growth”.
“We’re proud of the difference our optometrists make for all Australians, and we’re even prouder that more than 87% say Specsavers is a great place to work and that they feel proud to tell others they work here,” he said.
Survey Insights
Specsavers said the Great Place to Work survey revealed:
- 91% of optometrist respondents said people genuinely care about one another,
- 89% agreed that management trusts employees to do a good job without close oversight, reinforcing a strong sense of clinical autonomy across the network,
- 86% of optometrists said they were encouraged to balance their professional and personal commitments,
- 90% recognised the training and development opportunities and career pathways available to support their growth, and
- 79% felt they were fairly rewarded for the work they do.
Specsavers Managing Director, Paul Bott said reaching the top spot was a fantastic achievement, “but what matters most is creating an environment where our teams feel supported, valued and able to do their best work”.
The Great Place to Work Best Workplaces list is based primarily on confidential employee feedback, alongside an independent assessment of workplace culture and people practices. This year’s study captured insights from more than 150,000 Australian employees across organisations of all sizes and industries.
