This page contains important changes to be aware of when lodging your Gender Equality Report.
Changes to 'Confirming details' section
| Industry codes | Employers will confirm one industry code per employing ABN.
|
| Primary ABN | Employers no longer need to confirm a primary ABN when preparing and lodging data for multiple employing entities in a single lodgement. |
| Company email | Providing an additional contact email is now optional (but is recommended to enable us to contact you with important information and updates). |
Please refer to Confirm your organisation's details for further information.
Changes to Workplace Profile template
| Industry code | You will no longer be required to allocate the industry code confirmed for each organisation against the employee records entered on to the Profile. The ‘Industry’ column has been removed from the template. |
| Year of birth (age) | For 2025, you will not be required to provide the year of birth for each employee (the column has been disabled). |
| Postcode (location) | Only physical locations controlled by the employer (i.e. not a remote workplace such as an employee’s home office) should be entered into this field. Do not enter postcodes of any home offices for remote workers. |
| Commonwealth public sector employers | All Commonwealth public sector employers must upload a Workplace Profile (WPP), even those using APSC data transfer, and must include:
|
Please refer to Workplace Profile (WPP) for further information.
Changes to Workforce Management Statistics template
| Industry code | You will no longer be required to allocate an industry sub-division code before uploading a file for each employing entity being reported in the submission. |
| Promotions - new mandatory question | Employers will report the number of employees who have been promoted from a non-manager position to a manager position, by gender and by employment status. |
| Commonwealth public sector employers using APSC data transfer | You only need to answer WMS questions 6, 7, and 8. |
| Commonwealth public sector employers not using APSC data transfer | You must complete the full WMS (questions 1–8). |
Please refer to Workforce Management Statistics (WMS) for further information
Changes to Questionnaire
Private sector
This table outlines the changes to the 2024-25 Questionnaire
| Section | Question | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Governing bodies | 1.1a | All voluntary questions have been removed. |
| Action on pay equity | 2.2c | The list of actions has been condensed, with some options removed. |
| Employee Consultation | 2.6 | Employers must confirm compliance with Notification and Access requirements, by confirming Public Report documents have been shared with employees, members, shareholders, and relevant employee organisations. |
| Flexible working | 3.1a | The list of inclusions in a formal policy/strategy has been updated with new options. |
| 3.2 | Flexible working options for managers and non-managers will no longer specify whether the options are formal or informal. | |
| Paid parental leave | 4.1 | The question format has been improved and updated in the Employer Portal. |
| 4.1c | Employers can now provide additional details on how employer funded paid parental leave is offered through a free text field. | |
| 4.1d | Employers must now report both the lowest and highest weeks of employer funded paid parental leave available, reflecting different entitlements across employee groups. | |
| 4.1h | The ‘Opt out’ approach question now includes additional guidance and a definition. | |
| Support for carers | 4.5 | Employers no longer need to specify whether support mechanisms are available at ‘some’ or ‘all’ worksites. |
| Family and domestic violence | 5.1 | All voluntary questions have been removed. |
| Diversity and inclusion | 6.1 | All voluntary aspects of this section have been removed. |
Public sector
This table outlines the changes to the 2024 Questionnaire
| Section | Question | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Governing bodies | 1.5 | All voluntary questions have been removed. |
| Action on pay equity | 2.2c | The list of actions has been condensed, with some options removed. |
| Employee Consultation | 2.6 | Whilst employers are required to meet the Notification and Access requirements, employers no longer need to report the dates that Public Report documents have been shared with employees, members, and relevant employer organisations and the question has been removed. |
| Employee Consultation | 2.7 | Whilst your CEO is still required to share the Executive summary and Industry Benchmark Reports with your Governing Body ,employers no longer need to report the dates the documents were shared and this question has been removed. |
| Flexible working | 3.1a | The list of inclusions in a formal policy/strategy has been updated with new options. |
| 3.2 | Flexible working options for managers and non-managers will no longer specify whether the options are formal or informal. | |
| Paid parental leave | 4.1 | The question format has been improved and updated in the Employer Portal. |
| 4.1c | Employers can now provide additional details on how employer funded paid parental leave is offered through a free text field. | |
| 4.1d | Employers must now report both the lowest and highest weeks of employer funded paid parental leave available, reflecting different entitlements across employee groups. | |
| 4.1h | The ‘Opt out’ approach question now includes additional guidance and a definition. | |
| Support for carers | 4.5 | Employers no longer need to specify whether support mechanisms are available at ‘some’ or ‘all’ worksites. |
| Family and domestic violence | 5.1 | All voluntary questions have been removed. |
| Diversity and inclusion | 5.10 | All voluntary aspects of this section have been removed. |
Please refer to Questionnaire for further information.
Changes to document generation
Employers will now only need to generate and download two Public Report PDF documents that require CEO (or equivalent) review and approval. Corporate group employers can also generate a copy of the Public Report documents for their entire group.
- These Public Report documents have Notification and Access requirements to share with internal stakeholders.
The tables below provide a comparison of the changes to the documents provided for each type of submission.
Standalone organisations
| Previously received | You will now receive | ||
| Questionnaire |
| Questionnaire |
|
| Workforce Management Statistics section (WMS) |
| Workforce Management Statistics section |
|
| Workplace Profile section (WPP) |
| Workplace Profile section | |
Corporate groups
| Previously received | You will now receive | ||
| Questionnaire |
| Questionnaire |
|
| Workforce Management Statistics section (WMS) |
| Workforce Management Statistics section |
|
| Workplace Profile section (WPP) |
| Workplace Profile section | |
For more information, refer to Document generation and CEO sign-off.
New Targets legislation
New legislation requires Designated Relevant Employers (DREs) to select and meet, or demonstrate improvement against, 3 gender equality targets.
- A DRE is defined as an employer who directly employs 500 or more employees.
- The list of targets employers can select from is defined in the legislation and detailed in the WGEA Targets Menu Guide.
- For employers reporting in 2025, this will be your baseline data and you will select your targets in 2026.
For more information, please refer to Gender Equality Targets | WGEA.