Busy Bees Childcare Employee Reviews about "busy bees"

Pros

Fantastic opportunities for personal development within setting and company. Great company support with training both online Virtual learning academy as well as providing face to face training. Access to online app called UP which is a great support tool for staff to use to support children's planning and development. Management support at my setting is amazing, they are very approachable and supportive and praise and reward staff regularly whether it's a thank you, praise of good practice verbally or treats are given, extended lunch, lunch brought for team or team night out! Busy bees provide staff with access to life works which enables staff to seek help and advice on a wide variety of subjects both work related and personal. I have worked for busy bees for over 10 years and I couldn't praise them enough especially my manager.

Cons

Really can't think of anything.

Pros

Good communication and relationships with parents and caregivers. The staff are the best part of the company, trying everyday for the sake of the children to keep a sinking ship afloat.

Cons

This company does not pay sick pay except for management and if you do take a sick day you're penalised for it (as if you want to lose money!). I didn't attend a single team meeting in the year that I worked there and I had no training offered to me even though this is something that is stated in the job advertisement. The company is greedy and selfish and never shows any appreciation to staff, mental health is certainly not a priority at Busy Bees! Some members of staff were being paid below minimum wage which is illegal and the general consensus was that everyone felt overworked, underpaid but most of all underappreciated and unnoticed. When regional directors came in to "inspect" our rooms not once did they say "well done", they didn't even crack a smile or start a conversation with us, no interpersonal skills. Head office would give us incentives to improve the rooms and garden by using resources which we'd have to get donated for free (saving them money) and then we wouldn't even get thanked when we did it. These jobs included fitting things in the garden, painting, gardening and decorating rooms. To top it off, in terms of the children, the food is worse than meals I've seen served in my Nan's nursing home and the rooms are filthy. All the cleaners do are sweep a bit and change the bins. They don't touch the windows, skirting boards, surfaces and certainly don't mop (this didn't even improve when covid hit). As a parent I wouldn't board my dog here. Honestly the most surreal workplace I've ever had the displeasure of working at and I truly wish I had more positive things to say.

Pros

Kind staff and management, Laddo, the children, benefits of busy bees

Cons

Work load and no time to do it in! Always rushing to get work done as it is work overload and most important thing is the care of the children.

Pros

This review is ONLY for Busy Bee's Ealing Common Nursery, and not a review of Busy Bee's as a whole. Supportive and understanding colleagues, creativity is encouraged, management is very direct yet respectful with feedback, flexible working hours, training and advancement opportunities, loads of laughs!

Cons

Space is tight, they're owned by Busy Bees.

Pros

I enjoy working with the children the parents are nice. and have a good team of staff that i work with who I know provide a great standard of care. Busy bees have provided some new re-sources.

Cons

Often short staffed poor cover of sickness/holiday they don't like using cover staff though we need them. Often when higher management come in they can be very rude seem to look down on you. Put you on overtime without asking part time and full time staff. Very disorganised often change things and don't tell you. Expect you to cope with low staff plus do mountains of paperwork. Low pay for really hard work and a lot of stress.

Pros

Busy Bees gives a wide range of training opportunities which helps to progress within the company!

Cons

People stay in their roles for a long time which can be hard to progress within the same setting.