Bright Horizons Family Solutions Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Bright Horizons Family Solutions full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Work from Home
Resources & Training to do my job well
Supportive Supervisor
Great Team to work with

Cons – Working from home can also be a con - I don't have a water cooler to go talk to people around

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the good work - In the 7 years I've worked for Bright Horizons I have trusted your decisions and valued the family feel to the company that you have cultivated.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Bright Horizons Family Solutions full-time for more than a year

Pros – This center was one of the top centers in the company. Because most Bright Horizons are corporately funded, they are very nice and the children don't lack for anything. Very well maintained space and well paid staff. We are more highly compensated than most child care teachers.

Cons – Corporate owners put a lot of pressure on the center directors and the bottom dollar. Corporations don't know what is best for the kids.

Advice to Senior Management – Have a liaison that can educate/communicate with the corporate owners that hire Bright Horizons to come to their sights on what is best for children.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Pros – help positively shape childrens lives

Cons – poor pay, unorganized, changing hours frequently

Former Employee – worked at Bright Horizons Family Solutions full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – They have great benefits, equality for growth within the company and give you the opportunity to learn first hand on everything.

Cons – Some of the middle management is one sided, poor communication with employees and directors Some directors have poor people skills

Advice to Senior Management – Make sure to hear and do something about the complains of employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Bright Horizons Family Solutions full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – If you are motivated, focused, hard worker and wants to learn a lot, this company offers endless opportunities in their Backup programs. It is very challenging to work with different group of children and families on a daily basis, but the rewards are priceless. You will be honed to be a multi-tasker, flexible and strong leader in the field. There are enormous possibility for advancement in Backup because you get to expose yourself to all of the center roles and work in all the classroom, from infants through school age program.

It is not for everyone, but someone who wants to grow, learn and be really good at what they do, combine with passion in teaching and leadership, this is a great a place!

Cons – There's lot of ongoing changes within the program that I worked at, but that is part of the program so one has to be open to working during school holidays as the center gets very busy when school is out.

Advice to Senior Management – Some leadership can be more grounded and compassionate, interactive and supportive, after all, this the field of childcare, so caring is the main word that needs to be highlighted. Showing more genuine appreciation and connecting with the center staff (regardless of roles), can help the company keep the best and amazing teachers from leaving the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Bright Horizons Family Solutions full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – cute, intelligent, happy, and engaged children

thoughtful, caring, involved, diverse, well-educated parents

weekends off

no nights

consistent start-stop work times

respectful, professional site leadership/management

inclusive, diverse and multicultural workplace/client enrollment

corporation philosophy and HEART principles are ethical,logical, consistent and realistic

proprietary WORLD curriculum guidelines are developmentally sound and well-founded

creativity, spontaneity and flexibility in developing and differentiating curriculum are encouraged and supported by center staff

corporation is forward-thinking and growth oriented

Cons – facilities upkeep/aesthetics slow to be realized

sick, vacation benefits acquired in small increments (calculated per minute/hour)

substitute staff variable

payment for lead teacher is rendered on hourly basis

overtime is strongly discouraged

school day planning time is frequently nonexistent

initiatives from upper management lack appropriate allocation of time/resources for teachers

technology, such as "Employee express website," and "Brightweb Employee Portal" are frequently
inaccessible and center management does not have time to deal with issues

front desk support can be skimpy, resulting in rushed/changed/shortened lunch breaks

tuition remission for employees is not enough to cover even one three credit course per year at public, community college

time to maintain Bright Horizons branding in classroom (in the form of basket labels, documentation board captions, deliberate toy rotation and organized storage of materials) is often unavailable and as a result room visually does not fully conform to corporation setup policy

– I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Bright Horizons Family Solutions full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Worked at Bright Horizons for over 10 years and it was great in the beginning, all the "pros" have disappeared.

Cons – There's much expected of you and if you do it too well the management feels threatened (parent praises are turned around to the benefit of management, never to teachers who give their all). Parent comments are hidden away if they're good. Comments that can help you grow are thrown at you but no solutions are given. If you stay to long (i.e make too much $) Directors, Regional Managers and above work to get you out so they can hire someone for less. It's all about the bottom line now not the children, families or clients.

Advice to Senior Management – Get in touch with your employees, clients and families. There are so many levels of management and issues are just passed back down. Sorry to fill you in that your Regional Managers and Division Heads just report what they want you to hear, but I'm sure deep down you already know this but continue to turn a blind eye. Look at some centers turnover - 50% of long term staff (5 years plus) gone in a year??? If you are getting exiting interviews? Check one or two... I know at my old center none were offered. Same with parent questionaires, we had a large number of parents leave in a month and not one was contacted or given any option to give feedback or reason for leaving. If you are getting them they are being done by center and middle management. Also please check into what diversity actually means, you seem to have one clearcut (wrong) definition.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Bright Horizons Family Solutions full-time for more than a year

Pros – Discounts on childcare, help pay for schooling

Cons – A lot of paper work

Advice to Senior Management – Learn how to manage your centers without treating employees unfairly.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bright Horizons Family Solutions part-time for more than a year

Pros – Decent pay, fun atmosphere, hour lunch break, great management

Cons – You get switched classrooms a lot

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Bright Horizons Family Solutions full-time for less than a year

Pros – They have given me opportunities to work up and get experience for possible higher positions. The benefits are very good. They are a well run company that seem to care about the kids, families, and employers.

Cons – They pay about average for childcare jobs in town. Childcare doesn't usually pay well though and won't pay well until you get into high management.

Advice to Senior Management – I wish they were a little more organized but I think that's just certain centers, not a company wide issue.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company