AT&T launched an on-site summer camp for employees’ kids

On June 2, AT&T launched a day summer camp at its Dallas headquarters for employees whose school-aged children are free for the summer. The initiative, done in partnership with Bright Horizons, a company that helps employers provide childcare for their employees, followed feedback from workers about how the summer months are difficult. Work doesn’t take a pause but school does, leaving many parents with gaps in childcare.

“People don’t necessarily think of elementary school, for example, as a form of care, but the reality is that when children go to school, parents can go to work, and when schools are closed over the summer, they need to find coverage,” says Stephen Kramer, CEO of Bright Horizons. 

AT&T’s summer camp is for children ages 4 to 12 and offers rotating activities for kids, including coding, culinary arts, sports, and crafting. There’s a weekly off-site trip to a nearby archery and low-ropes course as well as museum pop-ups and animal visits. The camp, located in the company’s downtown Discovery District campus, is open weekdays through August 8 from 7:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m, and parents are free to stop by and visit their children during their workdays. 

Matt Phillips, assistant vice president of benefits at AT&T, said the camp has been hugely popular among employees. “We’re hearing, ‘It’s really great to bring my son to work and let them experience what it’s like for me to work downtown,’” he says. “And to know that (their kids) are safe and cared for well.”

Through their Bright Horizons benefits, AT&T employees get 10 back-up care days per year—typically used when parents’ regular childcare isn’t available; for a $15 copay, or $25 for two children, they can send their child to one of Bright Horizons’ childcare centers. AT&T employees can use their back-up care days to send their kids to the new summer camp, though once they’ve exhausted their allotted back-up care days, the price goes up to $99. Summer camp costs vary widely. A study from Summer Camp Hub, a digital guide to summer camps, reports parents pay between $70 and $120 a day for day camps. Steve and Kate’s Camp, which was acquired by Bright Horizons in 2021 and operates AT&T’s day camp, charges $114 a day at another Dallas location. 

Phillips said there hasn’t been any pushback about the full price of the day camp from employees, though most seem to be using it more for drop-ins as opposed to consistent care. On average, each child who has attended is there for a little more than 3 days, not necessarily consecutive. Phillips’s own 11-year-old son has attended the camp once and will probably go again before summer ends. Over 380 AT&T employees have used the camp so far, representing 560 unique campers. The camp averages 52 campers per day.

For parents, finding childcare during the summer months is notoriously difficult—in addition to being expensive, summer camps often have long waitlists and require sign-ups several months before summer starts. Kramer said there’s growing desire—and expectation—that employers provide more support to help working parents find care for their children during the summer. He noticed that parents were leaning more on back-up care benefits in the summer, and last year tested an on-site summer camp at Bright Horizons’ own headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts.

Seeing the “huge demand and incredible appreciation” for the camp encouraged the company to bring the idea to its clients. Bright Horizons is now working with several other employers to plan on-site summer camps for 2026. 

AT&T’s summer camp comes months after it ditched its hybrid work policy and required employees to return to the office full-time. The success of the summer camp has inspired the company to consider how it could help fill other gaps in childcare parents might struggle with—spring break, for example. And while making the on-site summer camp a permanent fixture isn’t official yet, Phillips said that “based on the feedback, there’s definitely inertia to do it again.”

On-site childcare, including summer camp, is just one part of a growing trend of companies searching for ways to better support and retain working parents, though critics question the sustainability of people relying on their employers for childcare. Some schools have begun to offer on-site daycare as a way to retain teachers. Along with flexible work arrangements that make parents’ lives easier, childcare subsidies are another perk that’s becoming more common. In May, Cakes Body announced it would pay up to $36,000 in yearly childcare costs for employees.