New mums face a disappointing maternity return to work with over half feeling their companies do not adequately support them.

A new poll by online recruiters Monster has found that only 44% 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.

Despite the gloomy news, 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.

Julian Acquari, managing director of Monster UK and Ireland, said: “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 workforce, not to mention that raising a child can be expensive and many new mothers still need to work to provide the vital added income.”

Monster quizzed 500 workers in February 2008.