TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2001--Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NASDAQ: BFAM), the world's leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, early education and work/life solutions, today announced that it has opened its first work-site child care centre in Canada with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Siebel Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEBL), the world's leading provider of eBusiness applications.

"Teaming with work/life leaders like IBM and Siebel Systems to establish a high-quality work-site child care centre is a natural way for Bright Horizons to bring our experience and expertise in developing customized work/life solutions together with the skills of local early childhood education experts to meet the growing needs of Canadian parents and businesses to balance work and family demands," said Bright Horizons' Chief Executive Officer Roger Brown. "This will enable us to serve employers in Markham and the Greater Toronto area where work/life solutions can help them gain a competitive advantage and at the same time provide a dynamic, educational environment for young children."

The child care centre, located in Markham, is being sponsored jointly by IBM and Siebel Systems. As part of the company's global dependent care strategy, IBM Corp. last year committed a $50 million global fund for the years 2001-2005 to develop and support work/life programs in communities where its employees live and work. In the spring of 2000, Siebel Systems launched a work/life strategy that calls for work-site child care at each of the company's major work locations around the world.

"IBM recognizes the importance of achieving a personal balance between work and home life and is committed to implementing programs and offerings in this area," said Susan Turner, Director of Diversity and Workplace Programs, IBM Canada Ltd. "Partnering with Bright Horizons to open this facility will provide our employees with convenient access to quality child care programs, helping them juggle the demands of a fulfilling family life with a productive IBM career."

The new centre in Markham represents the third child care centre opened by Siebel Systems in the past year, following two new child care centres in California. The company is scheduled to open a fourth centre with Bright Horizons in Virginia in 2002.

IBM has partnered with Bright Horizons to sponsor more than 20 child care centres worldwide.

"Offering child care to our workforce is a key element in achieving our goal to make Siebel Systems a great place to work worldwide. By helping our employees better integrate their work and family lives, we can build a stronger workforce and a stronger community," said Ed Urban, Vice President of Human Resources, Siebel Systems, Inc.

The centre, which is staffed by local Canadian early childhood education experts, will provide the highest quality child care to meet the unique needs of working parents. A "Family Centre" philosophy, which is designed to serve the entire family, creates a homelike atmosphere and fully involves parents and the community in programming and activities. The centre has full-time space for 162 children, infants through senior kindergarten, and another 21 spaces for holiday programs for school-age children.

The development comes just as a new report reveals a severe shortage in child care in Canada along with growing demand as record numbers of Canadian mothers enter the workforce. The Work-Life Compendium 2001 report, a joint study by Human Resources Development Canada, the Centre for Families, Work and Well-Being, and the University of Guelph, shows measurable benefits for businesses that help employees balance their work and family needs.

Regarding demand for child care and the cost to employers, the study found:

• A record 71% of Canadian women with children are in the workforce, including 61% of women with a child under 3 years old. That is double the number from just 25 years ago.

• By 1998, there were only enough licensed child care spaces available to meet the needs of 16% of infants with a mother in the workforce.

• Work/life conflicts in Canada cost organizations roughly $2.7 billion in lost time due to work absences.

• The problem is especially acute for parents with a child under age 6. Mothers with preschoolers lost nearly three times more workdays for personal and family reasons than the average for all women, and fathers lost nearly twice as many as most men.

• Nearly 62% of women who have held a paid job in Canada have experienced a work interruption of at least six months to care for family members.

However, the study's findings also demonstrate that employers can provide solutions to both help their employees reduce the stress of work/family balance and strengthen their relationship with employees. This can provide payoffs for both the employees and the employer:

• Employees with strong employment relationships missed almost half the number of sick days compared with employees with weak relationships with their employers.

• Employees with strong employment relationships had half the turnover rate compared with their counterparts with weak relationships.

• Employees reporting moderate or low difficulty balancing their work and home lives miss half as many days as those who have a high degree of difficulty balancing work and family.

• 47% of survey respondents indicated that employers have the "second most important" role to play in solving employee child and elder care issues.

• Work/life issues are most likely to make an employee stay with an employer, ranking second only to "challenging work."

"Bright Horizons is excited to be a part of the solution to the pressing need for more high-quality child care in Canada and to help parents and employers better integrate the demands of work and family. With our `glocal' approach we partner with leading employers to meet their global needs for work/life solutions while ensuring that the child care is appropriate for local standards and cultural needs by employing the very best local early childhood professionals. We are proud to team with IBM and Siebel Systems to open our first child care and early education centre in Canada, and we look forward to many more similar partnerships as we grow operations in the region," Brown said.

Bright Horizons currently operates more than 385 work-site child care centres in the U.S., England and Ireland. The company's global growth has been attributed to the strong relationships it enjoys both with employers and parents, as well as an unmatched reputation for quality. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company is incorporated in Ontario as Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Ltd.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (www.brighthorizons.com) is the world's leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, back-up care, early education and work/life solutions. Bright Horizons has been recognized for its commitment to quality by the Child Care Action Campaign and for its contributions to the community as the recipient of the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Citizenship. Bright Horizons clients include 82 of the Fortune 500 and 48 of the "Best Companies For Working Mothers" as designated by Working Mother magazine. The company sponsors the not-for-profit Horizons Initiative and Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, providing child care and playspaces for homeless children. Some of the company's more than 300 clients include United Auto Workers and the Ford Motor Company, Motorola, GlaxoSmithKline, the International Monetary Fund, J. Sainsbury, Johnson & Johnson, and Universal Studios.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Bright Horizons Family Solutions' actual results may vary significantly from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including the ability of the Company to execute contracts relating to new commitments, to enroll families in new as well as existing centers, and to operate effectively and profitably abroad, as well as other factors that are discussed in detail in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the "Risk Factors" section in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000.

Siebel is a trademark of Siebel Systems, Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.