10. Workplace Profile (WPP)

The Workplace Profile is an Excel worksheet designed to collect information about workforce composition, salaries, and remuneration.

It provides a snapshot of an employer’s workforce in respect to the 12 months from 1 January to 31 December of the prior year. This is not a total or average headcount number, but an actual count of all employees who were employed as at the snapshot date chosen. 

• For public sector employers having this section entirely transferred from the APSC - 31 December is chosen as the snapshot date
• For public sector employers who are completing this file - refer to the guidance below on choosing a snapshot date.

Where APS workforce data is already captured by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC), the APSC will provide this data directly to WGEA to remove duplication and simplify reporting for agencies.

• The entirety of the Workplace Profile section will be completed by the APSC if an employer provides this information to them, and that employer had selected 'Yes' to the WPP bulk upload option when registering.

Public sector employers completing the workplace profile will need to select a snapshot date.

The Workplace Profile provides a snapshot of your organisation’s workforce on any one date during the 12-month reporting period (1 January to 31 December of the previous year). You are free to choose any snapshot date within the reporting period for the submission of your Workplace Profile.

• We recommend that you try and keep the same snapshot date for your Workplace Profile year-to-year as this ensures your data and insights are taken at regular intervals.
• All employees reported in a single template must have their data prepared using the same snapshot date.
• APS employers who are having data transferred from the APSC are using a snapshot date of 31 December.

Which employees are included?

On your workplace profile include any of the following types of employees who were employed as at your snapshot date:

• all employees who were employed by your organisation on the snapshot date, even if they have since left the organisation
• employees who were stood down in the 12 months preceding the snapshot date (i.e. employees who were technically 'employed' on the snapshot even if they were not working or being paid)
• all employees who work for you in Australia, regardless of whether they are Australian citizens or not
• foreign nationals or expatriates working in Australia, including those with global responsibilities, if the Australian organisation is their employer or they are the CEO 
• employees who have worked overseas for less than six months in a reporting period 
• employees on parental leave (paid or unpaid) or on extended leave 
• equity partners who receive part of their earnings as a salary 
• casual or seasonal workers 
• trainees 
• apprentices and graduates.

Do not include:

• an employee who resigned or was terminated/dismissed before the snapshot date
• an employee who was hired after the snapshot date
• independent contractors
• employees of a labour hire company who have been assigned to work in your business
• volunteers or unpaid visitors.

How do you provide salary and remuneration data?

For the employees populated into the Workplace Profile you must identify the salary and remuneration paid to relevant employees in the 12 months before the chosen snapshot date. Below is an example of an employer choosing June 30 as their snapshot date in the private sector program (please note, the dates in the picture are an example of a snapshot date of 30 June for their reporting period):

• In this example the Workplace Profile would be populated with employees who were employed as at June 30
• For either template, you will need to identify the salary and remuneration in the 12 months before the chosen snapshot date (in this example, 1 July to 30 June). 

In the Unit Level template, you must use the actual earnings of your organisation’s employees and calculate each to an annualised full-time equivalent amount, you then enter the final calculated amount into two columns (Base Salary and Total Remuneration).

In the STP/payroll template you must enter the actual earnings of your organisation’s employees into each payment column (along with the employee’s ordinary hours and start date) for the template to calculate each amount to an annualised full-time equivalent standard.

There is a choice of using two different types of file formats to submit the Workplace Profile data – the unit level template, and the STP template.

• We strongly recommend using the Unit level file in the first instance, the STP/payroll template is designed for finance or payroll experts
• There are several columns which are the same between both files however the salary/remuneration columns are unique to each.

We strongly recommend that employers use the unit level file for several reasons.

When preparing data using the unit level file:

• Users generally encounter fewer data entry and quality issues as there is overall less data entry required.
• Users have full control over the final salary/remuneration figures as they are final figures provided by the employer and not reliant on the template calculating component pay amounts with additional information such as ordinary hours or start dates.
• The figures an employer provides can easily account for irregular income/hours, unpaid leave and other factors which are not easily accounted for with the STP/payroll calculated file.
• Users will only need to provide two salary/remuneration figures for each employee – their full year/full-time equivalent base salary and total remuneration amount.

When preparing data using the STP/payroll aligned file:

• Preparation requires an advanced knowledge of payment information, types, and terms
• Payments made to the employee must be split up into their component parts, and by whether the payments were paid on a fixed/one off or pro-rata basis.
• Users need to provide additional data relating to the employees’ ordinary hours and start date, as well as information on what are the full-time ordinary hours and snapshot date
• The file uses the payments split up into component parts and the additional information to calculate any pro-rata payment up to the full year/full-time equivalent amounts.
• The STP file calculates to one ‘full time standard’ – e.g. 38 hours/week. If a workplace has multiple ‘full time standards’ for different workforces, separate files must submit for each cohort.

Below is an overview of different types of payments and where they are categorised in each profile file. Please refer to the information in this online guide or on the first tab of the downloaded file for definitions and guidance for each column based on which type of file being used.

Notes for the Unit Level template

• Base salary amounts represent the payments for ordinary work (wages, salary payments), total remuneration represents the entire sum of payments made to an employee. 
• Base salary and total remuneration amounts for each employee must be expressed as their full year/full time equivalent earnings.
• Actual earnings for each employee must be used as the basis for this calculation.

Notes for the STP/Payroll Aligned template

• If an organisation has groups of employees that work different full-time ordinary hours (such as a casual cohort), the organisation should upload a separate Workplace Profile for each group. This will ensure all remuneration is correctly converted to annualised, full-time equivalent amounts.
• Actual earnings must be entered into each salary/remuneration column,
• The template uses the employees start date and ordinary hours figure that was entered to calculate each employee’s earnings into full year/full time equivalent amounts.

Refer to the below table for a quick reference of where each type of payment is allocated in both file types:

*Please note - All base salary amounts in the unit level file must be included in the total remuneration figure