PEOPLE and Great Place to Work® Name Bright Horizons One of the 2021 Companies that Care

September 01, 2021 at 16:05 PM EDT

PEOPLE magazine and Great Place to Work® have recognized Bright Horizons (NYSE: BFAM) as one of the 2021 PEOPLE Companies that Care®. This is Bright Horizons’ inaugural time being named to this prestigious list.

The Companies that Care list highlights the top U.S. companies that have succeeded in business while also demonstrating outstanding respect, care and concern for their employees, their communities and the environment.

Bright Horizons has been recognized for two impactful programs—FirstRespondersFirst, a program launched during the pandemic to provide free child care for children whose families were on the frontline fighting the pandemic and its Horizons Teacher Degree Program, a no-cost degree program for full-time employees in the company’s early education centers and preschools.

In the early months of the pandemic, Bright Horizons opened FirstRespondersFirst child care centers across the U.S. providing over 7,200 days of free quality care and education to hundreds of children in eight major cities.

Sue Routson a Physician in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Chicago shared that “without access to the FirstRespondersFirst free child care, I wouldn’t have had anyone to care for my children while I was working on the frontlines at the hospital. Bright Horizons cared for children of first responders so that we could care for the children of Chicago. And for that I am grateful.”

Bright Horizons is committed to transforming lives through education by creating pathways for individuals to succeed both personally and professionally. The first-of-its-kind in the field of early childhood education, the Horizons Teacher Degree Program, allows employees to earn an associate and bachelor’s degree in early childhood education for free. Since 2018, over 2,000 Bright Horizons child care teachers and staff members have enrolled and more than 100 have graduated.

Lauren Floyd, who graduated from the program last year earning her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, shares “Bright Horizons provided me with an opportunity that I didn’t think was possible. I was able to further my education, something that I always wanted to do, and change the direction of my career path.” Lauren was promoted to Health and Safety Director at Bright Horizons Family Center at Braker Lane in Austin, TX upon completing her degree.

“Caring for those we serve and each other have always been at the heart of who we are at Bright Horizons so I am incredibly honored that our employees are being recognized in this important way,” said Bright Horizons Chief Executive Officer Stephen Kramer. “Our dedicated employees bring passion and commitment to the work they do every day. They value the role we play in transforming the lives of working families so they can succeed both personally and professionally.”

PEOPLE magazine teamed up with Great Place to Work® to produce the list using the workplace analytic firm's extensive database and inside knowledge of outstanding workplaces around the globe. Rankings are based on surveys representing over 5 million employees’ experiences of how their workplaces have made a difference in their lives and in their communities. Rankings also reflect Great Place to Work's assessment of the generosity of each organization's benefits, philanthropic and community support, with particular focus on activities occurring in the last year.

“These companies show up for humanity in a variety of ways — from showing compassion for their employees to giving back to their communities to putting diversity, equity and inclusion in the forefront,” says Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work®. “They are paving the way for more socially responsible business and are fostering high-trust workplaces for all. Congratulations to the winners of the PEOPLE's Companies that Care list!”

About Bright Horizons

Bright Horizons^® is a leading global provider of high-quality early education and child care, back-up care, and workforce education services. For more than 30 years, we have partnered with employers to support workforces by providing services that help working families and employees thrive personally and professionally. Bright Horizons operates approximately 1,000 early education and child care centers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and India, and serves more than 1,300 of the world’s leading employers. Bright Horizons’ early education and child care centers, back-up child and elder care, and workforce education programs help employees succeed at each life and career stage. For more information, go to www.brighthorizons.com.

About the PEOPLE Companies that Care®

Great Place to Work® selected the Companies that Care® by gathering and analyzing confidential survey responses from more than 5 million employees at Great Place to Work-Certified™ organizations. Company rankings are derived from 60 employee experience questions within the Great Place to Work Trust Index™ survey. Read the full methodology.

To get on this list next year, start here.

About Great Place to Work®

Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All™.

Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.