Monster's most recent poll of workers across the UK has found that only 44% of those polled feel that their companies do enough to encourage new mums back into the workplace. In many cases, "doing enough" only amounts to providing the legally-required minimum maternity benefits.

Monster Meter recently asked nearly 500 UK workers "Does your workplace encourage new mums to come back to work?" and the overall results revealed the following:

17% "Yes, they do everything in their power"
27% "Yes, they offer the usual maternity benefits"
20% "Not really"
36% "Not at all, they would rather have someone without commitments"

Feelings about poor levels of encouragement for new mothers returning to work (where respondents answered with 'Not really' or 'Not at all') while still high, are favourable in the UK (56%) when compared to Finland (85%), the Netherlands (74%) and Italy (72%).

Mothers in the UK, France and Germany are perceived as receiving the most encouragement to return to work with 44%, 49% and 43% of workers polled feeling this, respectively.

"Our poll demonstrates that, despite legislation, there is still a feeling among workers that new mothers do not receive the support in coming back to work that they deserve from their employers. Women's careers don't end with having children - many women look forward to rejoining the work force, not to mention that raising a child can be expensive and many new mothers still need to work to provide the vital added income," said Julian Acquari, Managing Director of Monster UK and Ireland. "More and more people are searching for the perfect job to suit their lifestyle, and with millions of full time and part time jobs in the UK available online daily, women can easily find a new position offering the best of both worlds."

The results of the current Monster Meter are based on votes cast by Monster.com visitors from 4th to 17th February 2008. Only one vote per user is counted toward the final tabulation. The Monster Meter, a product of Monster, the leading global online careers website and flagship brand of Monster Worldwide Inc., is a series of online polls that gauge users' opinions on a variety of topics relating to careers, the economy and the workplace. These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. Anyone interested in voting in Monster's current online poll may do so by logging onto: