New national report highlights practical and financial challenges faced by UK mums and mums-to-be in the workplace

More than half of women wouldn’t tell an employer they were pregnant if offered a promotion or new job, according to the latest research by maternitycover.com

A new study released today by recruitment specialist maternitycover.com shows that 57% of women from the South West would not necessarily admit to being pregnant if offered a promotion or new job, with 52% of those women insisting that their decision to be ‘upfront’ would depend on the role being offered.

According to the survey, 72% of women from the South West region felt that their promotion prospects altered dramatically as soon as they had children, and even more surprising, over a third felt they were overlooked for a promotion because they were of childbearing age, with 49% of that group believing they could prove it.

The findings are released in a new report by maternitycover.com, entitled Boardrooms and Babies, which polled over 1,300 UK women through the country’s leading parenting site netmums, 145 of which come from the South West. The report outlines some of the challenges mums and mums-to-be face in the workplace, and the discriminatory stigmas many women feel continue to exist.

The research draws particular attention to how women feel their career prospects and earning potential deteriorates once they become mothers, as well as their relationships with colleagues and employers.

For instance, over two thirds (67%) of women in this region felt that going on maternity leaves a woman’s job vulnerable to ambitious colleagues or redundancy, with just under half (49%) of this group admitting that in current economic times people don’t think twice about trampling on colleagues to get on.

A shocking 79% of women admit to earning less than they did before having a baby, with only 3.5% experiencing an increased salary.

Perhaps more concerning than this: 44% of women from this area got into debt due to maternity leave pay. Over half (54%) were even forced to end their maternity leave earlier than expected due to money worries.

Despite all this, an incredible 71% of South West women surveyed by maternitycover.com maintain that they are better employees as a result of having a baby.

Paul Jenkins, CEO of maternitycover.com, says: "Women face countless unspoken taboos when it comes to having children and maintaining a career. Our survey, Boardrooms and Babies, makes this all too clear. We wanted to drill down into what women really experience, practically and financially, in the workplace when a baby appears on the scene. Only by lifting the lid in this way can we encourage conversation and improve communication between everyone involved."