globegarden Strengthens Quality, Youth Promotion, and Leadership

As an independent Swiss family business in the childcare sector, globegarden focuses on educational quality, stable relationships, and a lived culture of collaboration—values that have shaped the company for many years. At the same time, globegarden has actively contributed to the growing professionalisation of the childcare industry and has undergone a phase of sustainable development in recent years.

Majority Organic Growth

In an increasingly demanding market environment, the company has grown continuously: the number of employees has steadily increased in recent years and now includes well over 1,000 professionals. The network of locations has also been continuously expanded and today includes 87 day-care centres, nine of which are new locations in 2025. The growth occurs mainly organically through new openings.

In addition, over 25 existing facilities have joined the network through succession solutions in the past few years—whenever common values, high quality standards, and a long-term perspective matched. Furthermore, more and more day-care centres are approaching globegarden to become part of the network—whether for a stable succession arrangement, for quality development, or for integration into a professionally managed organisation. Christina Mair, co-owner and managing director, confirms the increasing number of such enquiries: "We receive a lot of inquiries from existing day-care centres that want stable succession or a professional continuation. However, we only take over if the shared values and quality standards match."

Reconciling Work and Family as a Growth Driver

Growth is not an end in itself but results from the consistently high demand from families, communities, and employers for reliable and high-quality care offerings. The offering is further developed in close coordination with local partners where a clear need exists. Although birth rates are declining, more and more parents are choosing to work—often in full-time or flexible models. This trend has long shaped developments at globegarden and is also clearly evident at present: many families consciously choose the offer because it provides reliable structures and supports the compatibility of work and family.

For over 16 years, globegarden has combined growth with continuity, regularly attracting interest from investors. Co-owner Christina Mair explains: "globegarden is and will remain a family-owned company, 100% family-owned. We rely on long-term development, invest step by step in new locations, and manage each facility with a focus on quality and stability. Our path has always been sustainable—and that is precisely the foundation of our strength." globegarden was founded by Christina Mair, Caroline Staehlin, and Kristina Rebsamen. All three founders still manage the operation today.

Leading in Apprenticeship Training

A significant part of this stability is the employees: over half of the employees have been with globegarden for an average of around four years, more than one in ten even for nearly a decade—and about five percent have accompanied the company for well over ten years. Such consistency is anything but self-evident in the education and care sector and shows how much professionals appreciate the development opportunities within a large network—whether through diverse career paths, different roles, or cross-location perspectives.

At the same time, globegarden is strongly committed to youth promotion. With over 300 apprentices, the network is one of the largest training companies in early education. Under the leadership of Michael Rütimann, who has significantly developed the area in recent years, apprentices are professionally accompanied and given clear development perspectives.

By training many young professionals, globegarden also makes an important contribution to addressing the ongoing skills shortage in the industry. The aim is to attract well-qualified people to early education, keep them in the field, and offer them long-term career steps. This summer, over 85% of the apprentices who completed their training accepted a permanent position at globegarden. Many begin in educational roles and then develop in different directions—into specialist roles, project tasks, or long-term leadership positions.

Broader Management

To meet the increasing complexity in the education and care sector and to further strengthen internal development, globegarden is broadening its management next year. The management, currently consisting of the three founders as well as Silke Bührmann, Director of Pedagogy and Education, will be specifically expanded.

Through the new structure, responsibilities are more clearly distributed and professional expertise in key areas is deepened. The focus will be particularly on solutions for families and employers, the strategic development of operational processes, and the area of finance and accounting. With this step, globegarden lays the foundation to secure quality and innovation in the long term and to continue aligning its offerings with the needs of families and businesses.

globegarden is also becoming more involved in the social discourse. At the end of October 2025, the company was represented at the Culture Summit 2025—a forum that brings together leading voices from business, science, administration, and society. Participants included Janina Kugel, former Siemens HR director, Thomas Süssli, Chief of the Swiss Army, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, head of ETH Zurich Space and former NASA science director.

globegarden participated with a contribution on the topic "Culture follows Strategy" and presented content from its own publication "Brave, not perfect - About Courage, Not Perfection". In the book, personalities from politics, science, business, media, care, culture, and other areas—from the art industry to the opera house—report on their experiences as working women and families. The publication is particularly aimed at working parents and highlights different perspectives on how they manage everyday life between work and family.

High Quality and Award for Workplace Culture

The continuous quality work was recently confirmed externally once again: the quality management of globegarden was successfully re-certified according to ISO 9001 in autumn 2025. Furthermore, the company is once again among the top 11 "Great Large Workplaces(TM) Switzerland" according to Great Place to Work(TM) in 2025.

"Reliable and pedagogically high-quality care is needed for working parents," says Managing Director Christina Mair. "We grow where we are needed and invest in quality, cooperation, and strong teams. Cooperation with families, communities, and apprentices strengthens us to consistently continue on this path."

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