Bright Horizons Family Solutions Reviews

Pros

your co-workers really support you

Cons

schedules are not flexible and always stay past time scheduled

Pros

Great work-life balance, nice environment, nice people. Much is done to make people feel welcome and accepted in this company.

Cons

The pay scale is really the only negative to working at Bright Horizons, although it is nearly balanced out by the flexibility offered in other areas.

Pros

Great benefits, great co workers, great kids.

Cons

bad directors, long hours, low pay

Advice to Senior Management

appreciate your teachers and pay them more.

Pros

I liked the resources that were available to the teachers.

Cons

No job advancement or further training even when you show the drive and interest I'm pursuing career advancement. Would have ben beret if they put more money into their teacher pay

Advice to Senior Management

Better pay and raining for thr teachers s oi that retention would be better

Pros

Great co-workers. Great working environment.

Cons

Low Salaries. Hard to flex hours.

Advice to Senior Management

Compensate staff that have their degrees.

Pros

Bright Horizons has really nice facilities. They used to contract with corporate clients to provide care for the employees children- on site, now open to the communities in some areas. They do offer a lot of options in insurance and other benefits and they try to keep on the 'cutting edge' in technology, for example, allowing us to create websites for our classrooms and going digital with portfolios.
Of all the Child Care options available, Bright Horizons is one of the best for families, but not for teachers.

Cons

Most of the benefits available are person specific, for example, they assist with elder care, travel expenses, cell phone discounts, wellness seminars etc.... But as I said, these are person specific, if one does not need these services, it does not help- just takes away money that could go into our pockets.

 One thing they claim is discounts for child care of employees children, yes, but....the manager can and does pick and choose who gets what discount- one person gets 40% another 20% and a third 0%- ummmm..... not cool. In addition, when someone does have their own child in the school, usually they are not treated as well as the other parents. When an employee's child get sick and is required to go home, but the employee is needed for ratio, the employee doesn't get notified their child is ill, until later.

Yes I get to take days off or call in sick, but the hassle is getting lectured or funny looks when I stay home with my sick child. And only one person can request off at a time?????

Policies change weekly - sometimes going to the opposite extreme, and guess who gets to do or redo the work? And guess who gets in trouble if it is not done right? The sick child policy is at the whim of the manager- as if they have to deal with the vomit or diarrhea.

The management does not support the teachers when there is an issue with a parent- the teacher is written up, even when the issue is the parent's fault. For example, if we bring up a situation or behavior the child is demonstrating and the parent is either in denial or thinks their child can do no wrong, management sides with the 'paying customer', and we get 'counseled', or written up.

There is too much work for the management team to handle and support the classrooms when we need it, so what was their solution? Cut the hours of regular teachers until they had to leave to find different jobs to pay their bills, claiming to the unemployment office "We offered them hours, but they decided to leave" so basically tricking them out of it. Then they hired new people or transfered people from other schools to fill in. Why??? And, when they hired more 'management team' people, they tell us to suck it up cause the extra person now takes any money we had for raises.

Each year there are lower numbers of children at the school during certain time of the year. And each year management blames us for that. What are you doing wrong that made the parents take their child elsewhere? And each year we are 'punished' by losing our supply budget. When teachers need something, they will buy it themselves- with what little we make, is that appreciated? Is that reimbursed? Why doesn't Bright Horizons plan for the down time?

We are supposed to get time away from the classroom to do the paper-work we are responsible for on a daily - weekly or monthly basis, instead we are forced to skip it, or do it at home, or attempt to complete it all during the time when the children are napping. It is impossible when half the children are awake and require attention, to work on it, especially when there is only 1 teacher in the room, and we are not allowed to turn our backs on a child who is awake. So what happens when a lesson plan is not updated? We get in trouble.

I think the worst is "Do what I say, not what I do & If you don't like it then leave" attitude. There is no loyalty to employees, though they say they need us to make the company the wonderful place it is... they don't really care if we are so unhappy that the work suffers.

The pay is so low, not even cost of living, and 1% raise is not good enough when one makes 11 dollars an hour. (I went to college for this???)

They expect us to follow protocol when there is an issue, but when the issue is with the manager and/or regional manager, it is ignored. The next higher up (whom we are supposed to go to) does not call us back- just tells the manager we called. And the next higher up, if they even respond, smiles and nods, then tells the manager. Guess who is on 'the list' now?

Bright Horizons is a huge company, and profits are all that matter.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay more, be loyal to your employees, listen to the teachers for new ideas, not some out -sourced company who observes the current market trend. Hire managers with people skills, and let go of the managers who have unhappy districts. Take a hint, when 200 hundred employees from different schools, complain about someone... it's time to pull them out. Not wait 5 years so we all are miserable. And the TSG is just more work, and more rules to make it all more difficult. You hire us because we are creative and smart, then take away our ability to be creative and use our brains?

Pros

Good benefits, decent work life balance and nice work flexibility. Upper Management has a good idea on where they want the Company to go.

Cons

Favoritism with promotions. Management says they care about the employees but really only care about results. Poor communication between departments. Sacrifice of salary and raises for better benefits and work flexibility.

Pros

If you like working with children

Cons

No room to grow and advance.
Pay is horrible
Management don't listen to concerns at all

Advice to Senior Management

. Pay more. Leadership needs to get off their high horse, teachers do the most and get the least.

Pros

Bright Horizons is a great company to work for! They offer many opportunities for growth by providing training and feedback. They also offer the ability to transfer to other sites.. Bright Horizons strives to meet or exceed the NAEYC standards and treats employees with great respect.

Cons

The downsides of working for Bright Horizons are lack of flexibility in scheduling shifts (part time etc.) and not accomadating their own employee's child/children spaces in the program.

Advice to Senior Management

I would suggest that Bright Horizons continue to recognize employees by awards and compensation. I also would love to see upper management addressing teachers and staff pesonally through conferences or seminars.

Pros

Overall my experience with BHFS is good. Management has encouraged opportunity for me to grow professionally as well as other teachers. They do try to give time off for family obligations.

Cons

However, our center does not hold on to substitute teachers for long. So there does seem to be a problem when a teacher calls out sick so because of that, many teachers come to work when they should be home.
Our center does not have a budget that covers for the month; so, often we are without necessities, paper towels for example.

Advice to Senior Management

I believe the management team is doing the best job possible. It is the way BHFS seems to run their corporation. Why do they give such a small budget to our center, it’s embarrassing and shameful.