Bright Horizons is for-profit, publicly traded? Was anyone else aware of this?

[Anonymous]

It’s a large national chain that charges high rates. Of course I assumed it was a for profit business. Publicly traded? I assume d it was owned by private equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does that matter?

I don’t want my child’s daycare constantly cutting corners to turn a profit.

Guess what? The church daycare and nice lady with a small in-home operation are also cutting corners to make a profit. I had kids in a variety of settings, including 2 BH locations, from 2014-2022. Childcare is a thin margin business, not a charity. Some of the church based programs are able to offer lower rates because they get the real estate for very low rent or free from the church. Rent is the next highest cost after salaries.

[Anonymous]

I saw a BH location next to NYU school of public health when I was in NYC last summer and couldn’t imagine what the margins on that must be.

[Anonymous]

Babysitters and Nannies are also “for profit”.

My kid went to Kindercare. I preferred it to going for an at home - too many horror stories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you want someone to watch your kids for cheap and also not make any money doing it.

I would love for the people who directly care for the kids, and even the person directly overseeing those people, to make a lot more money than they do now. I am not particularly interested in enriching BH's shareholders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you want someone to watch your kids for cheap and also not make any money doing it.

I would love for the people who directly care for the kids, and even the person directly overseeing those people, to make a lot more money than they do now. I am not particularly interested in enriching BH's shareholders.

Why is this financial interaction different than basically all your other interactions unless you shop exclusively locally? Also nothing is stopping you from giving your child’s caregivers a few extra thou at the end of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you want someone to watch your kids for cheap and also not make any money doing it.

I would love for the people who directly care for the kids, and even the person directly overseeing those people, to make a lot more money than they do now. I am not particularly interested in enriching BH's shareholders.

Why is this financial interaction different than basically all your other interactions unless you shop exclusively locally? Also nothing is stopping you from giving your child’s caregivers a few extra thou at the end of the year.

As cited earlier on this thread, there is evidence showing publicly traded and private equity backed daycares skimp on quality to maximize profits. Not all "for profit" providers profit maximizers, many barely break even. BH is very profitable for it's shareholders but it's not passing on those gains to its workers.

Sorry I didn't specify that I absolutely give my child's caregivers bonuses. Thankfulym

[Anonymous]

Isn’t it also possible that they can be profitable since they are so large and can share resources for training, buy in bulk, etc.? I think someone else already said this but you have to look at any care center individually and assess whether the environment is clean and safe, the materials/toys are high quality (not falling apart) and the teachers are competent and caring. You could have all of that at a BH or in a different setting. However given certain corporate standards, you are unlikely to walk in to a BH and see that the building is falling apart, the furniture is badly worn, blatant safety violations and teachers with zero training at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t it also possible that they can be profitable since they are so large and can share resources for training, buy in bulk, etc.? I think someone else already said this but you have to look at any care center individually and assess whether the environment is clean and safe, the materials/toys are high quality (not falling apart) and the teachers are competent and caring. You could have all of that at a BH or in a different setting. However given certain corporate standards, you are unlikely to walk in to a BH and see that the building is falling apart, the furniture is badly worn, blatant safety violations and teachers with zero training at all.

That hasn't worked well for nursing homes or K-12 schools or higher education. I'm not saying all BH centers are bad, but they are not all good either and they are deifinitely not affordable unless you get a subsidized rate

[Anonymous]

For example here is a BH facility recently had two 3 yos leave the playground unsupervised. Not only were they found to not have the correct staffing levels at the time but they also didn't properly notify the state about the incident.
https://www.checkccmd.org/FacilityDetail.aspx?ft=&fn=Bright%20horizons&sn=&z=&c=&co=&fi=418090

Now of course there are other BH facilities with spotless licensing histories. And there are non-BH facilities with spotless licensing histories and great reputations. I can't imagine choosing BH just because I was too lazy to do some basic due diligence. It really makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For example here is a BH facility recently had two 3 yos leave the playground unsupervised. Not only were they found to not have the correct staffing levels at the time but they also didn't properly notify the state about the incident.
https://www.checkccmd.org/FacilityDetail.aspx?ft=&fn=Bright%20horizons&sn=&z=&c=&co=&fi=418090

Now of course there are other BH facilities with spotless licensing histories. And there are non-BH facilities with spotless licensing histories and great reputations. I can't imagine choosing BH just because I was too lazy to do some basic due diligence. It really makes no sense.

Bad link - search for Bright Horizons at Democracy Center

[Anonymous]

We went with Bright Horizons over a nanny and another local center in Georgetown. I prefer the accountability of a center versus a nanny who is alone with your kid for most of the day, and I felt there was more thought, purpose, and clearer standards at BH than at the local center.

There were specific rules and policies for everything, because there is a big business and corporate offices behind every decision made.

That said, i think there are large variations between BH centers, and a lot of that depends on the staff-- and specifically the center's director. We liked our center's director, whose door was always open and we felt like listened to us. We also had some incredible teachers.

Also, read the WHC thread and realize that this for-profit chain is much more closely regulated than a religious institution, and be thankful for it.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t know you could just “sign up” to send your kid to a BH; I thought they were all affiliated with a particular employer or group of employers. My firm has a backup childcare benefit with them but I haven’t used it yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went with Bright Horizons over a nanny and another local center in Georgetown. I prefer the accountability of a center versus a nanny who is alone with your kid for most of the day, and I felt there was more thought, purpose, and clearer standards at BH than at the local center.

There were specific rules and policies for everything, because there is a big business and corporate offices behind every decision made.

That said, i think there are large variations between BH centers, and a lot of that depends on the staff-- and specifically the center's director. We liked our center's director, whose door was always open and we felt like listened to us. We also had some incredible teachers.

Also, read the WHC thread and realize that this for-profit chain is much more closely regulated than a religious institution, and be thankful for it.

Well there is a specific issue with religious institutions being exempt from licensing regulations, which is a problem.

It doesn't mean a BH center is safer or has more oversight than any other licensed center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We went with Bright Horizons over a nanny and another local center in Georgetown. I prefer the accountability of a center versus a nanny who is alone with your kid for most of the day, and I felt there was more thought, purpose, and clearer standards at BH than at the local center.

There were specific rules and policies for everything, because there is a big business and corporate offices behind every decision made.

That said, i think there are large variations between BH centers, and a lot of that depends on the staff-- and specifically the center's director. We liked our center's director, whose door was always open and we felt like listened to us. We also had some incredible teachers.

Also, read the WHC thread and realize that this for-profit chain is much more closely regulated than a religious institution, and be thankful for it.

Well there is a specific issue with religious institutions being exempt from licensing regulations, which is a problem.

It doesn't mean a BH center is safer or has more oversight than any other licensed center.

Yes, the comparison was made to a religious center, as an example of a "non-profit" daycare.