A survey conducted by a money-saving website has found that a third of mums in full time jobs feel they were 'pressured' into returning to work after maternity leave.
The results of the MyVoucherCodes.co.uk poll revealed 35) of the mums who admitted feeling 'pressured' also said they had returned to work before their maternity leave ended.
Only 17 of these saying they did so because they 'could not afford childcare costs'.
A majority of mums also looked forward to returning to the workplace after their children were born, with 55 cited the 'work environment' as the reason for their excitement.
Andy Cole, parenting expert at MyVoucherCodes.co.uk said of the findings: 'Although maternity leave is, of course, a given right to any mother in employment, we wanted to look into how mothers actually feel when it comes to returning to work. It was surprising to see that many felt pressured into returning for fear of their career progression, but it seems that despite the measures now in place to protect mothers from this kind of workplace discrimination, it is still a real concern for many. It's important to remember that the length of maternity leave is allocated for a reason, and unless desperate, you should try to remain with your baby for the full amount of time given. Returning to work may seem tempting, but this can often cause distress to both your baby and you. If you are good at what you do, taking maternity leave should never hold you back.'
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