Four nursery groups have been recognised in an annual list of the UK’s best workplaces for women.

Childbase Partnership, Bright Horizons, Grace’s Day Nursery and Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries all appear on the UK’s Best Workplaces for Women List 2023, compiled by the organisation Great Place to Work.

The list was based on female employees’ feedback about their workplace through an employee survey, and how fairly those experiences compare to men’s reports of the same workplaces. Organisations appearing on the list had to meet a range of criteria including employing women in at least 20 per cent  of frontline and mid-level management roles.

Childbase Partnership and Bright Horizons were ranked at numbers 10 and 13 in the super-large employer category (organisations with more than 1,000 employees).

Bright Horizons has set up a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Group consisting of colleagues who take concerns and questions from their teams and help create new practices and policies. It has also launched two leadership training programmes for staff from across the business, The Leaders Talent and Senior Leaders Talent Programmes.

Ros Marshall, managing director UK at Bright Horizons, said: “Our company is shaped by our HEART values, Honesty, Excellence, Accountability, Respect, and Teamwork. We are proud that these remain our guiding principles and help to create our working environment and a culture that is fair for all.”

Grace’s Day Nursery, which owns two settings in south-east London, was ranked 10 in the medium (51 to 100 employees) category. In the employee survey, one team member commented: “Our ethos and what we believe in truly makes us stand out from the crowd. Everyone buys in to the company values and strives to make a difference. Lots of emphasis is placed on training opportunities and we have grown our team to be the best they can be.”

Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries was ranked 30 in the small (20 to 50 employees) section. The survey only covered the organisation’s head office, and did not include any of its own nurseries or franchisee nurseries.

Bright Horizons, Grace’s Day Nursery and Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries also appeared on Great Place to Work’s 2023 Best Workplaces for Wellbeing and UK’s Best Workplaces lists.