The Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the Act) requires Commonwealth public sector employers that employ 100 or more people submit a report to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), annually.
Employers are required to submit:
- an online questionnaire related to policies, strategies and actions on gender equality,
- a Workforce Management Statistics Excel file, designed to collect information about employee appointments, promotions, resignations and parental leave and
- if the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) is not transferring data on their behalf, at least one Workplace Profile Excel file, designed to collect information about workforce composition, salaries and remuneration.
The templates for these files can be found below.
Submissions are made in the WGEA Portal during the two-month submission period from 1 September to 31 October.
Submission templates
Submission templates for reporting in 2024 (for the 2023 year) will be made available here, soon.
Submission dates
Submissions should be made to WGEA between 1 September and 31 October, each year. Submissions should cover data for the previous calendar year—1 January to 31 December.
You must submit your report and resolve any data quality issues before 31 October, or apply for an extension within the submission period. If an extension is granted, you should submit your report prior to the end of the extension period.
What happens if the deadline is missed?
Organisations that fail to meet their deadline are then given a final 28-day notice period to rectify this and submit their report. This notice is sent direct to the CEO/Department or Agency Head or equivalent. After this period, the employer will be non-compliant.
The employer will not be eligible to receive a Compliance Certificate or the benchmarking reports available to compliant employers. See the compliance information below for more.
Making changes to a lodged submission
After lodging their submission, employers have 28-days to reopen it and make any edits required. Edits cannot be made to any submission once the 28-day change period has ended.
Compliance
An employer will comply with the Act if they:
- submit an annual report with all mandatory data before the submission deadline (including where an extension has been granted)
- have their CEO or Agency/Department head (or equivalent) review and approve the submission
- do not include anything false or misleading in the submission, or in the additional information WGEA requests and
- inform/share relevant parts of their submission with their governing body, employees, shareholders and employee groups.
From 1 January 2025, employers with 500 or more employees will also be required to have a policy or strategy in place against each of six Gender Equality Indicators to remain compliant.
WGEA can review an employer’s compliance:
- by asking for more information
- by reviewing randomly selected submissions
- after assessing comments their employees or employee organisations have made.
Compliance certificate
WGEA Where an employer lodges their report on time and complies with all other reporting obligations, the employer will be compliant and therefore eligible to receive a compliance certificate.
Compliance certificates are available to download from the online portal once an employer has been assessed as compliant.
Consequences for non-compliance
If an employer does not comply, WGEA can name the employer:
- in a report to the relevant Minister that is tabled in both Houses of Parliament
- publicly, by electronic or other means.