Employers who directly employ 500 or more employees in Australia are known as Designated Relevant Employers (DREs). Under the Workplace Gender Equality (Gender Equality Standards) Instrument 2023, DREs must have policies or strategies in place to support each of the 6 Gender Equality Indicators (GEIs).
These policies or strategies must aim to achieve the gender equality objective outlined in section 6 of the Instrument. They can be standalone or part of a broader policy or strategy that covers multiple GEIs.
Important: for Commonwealth public sector employers, sector-wide policies or strategies do not meet the requirement.
On this page
- Legislative update
- Designated Relevant Employers
- Gender Equality Indications (GEIs) & objectives
- How do I report my organisation’s policies and strategies?
- What should my policy or strategy cover?
- Timeframes and requirements to meet the GE Standards
- What if you do not meet the GE Standards?
- WGEA support
- Legislative resources
Legislative update
In 2025, legislative changes updated the definition of a DRE to include only employers who directly employ 500 or more staff. As a result, previous base and comparison periods no longer apply.
The new base period for meeting the GE Standards is:
- Private sector: 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026
- Commonwealth public sector: 1 January – 31 December 2026
If you don’t meet the GE Standards by the end of the base period, you’ll have two further reporting periods to comply before being considered non-compliant under section 19C of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the Act).
Designated Relevant Employers
A Designated Relevant Employer (DRE) is defined as an employer that directly employs 500 or more employees. WGEA also refers to them as 'large' employers.
In a corporate group, where a parent company or subsidiary individually employ 500 or more people, they are each considered to be a DRE and therefore subject to the requirements of the Gender Equality Standards.
However, a subsidiary or parent company will not be considered a DRE if they would need to be combined with other entities in the corporate group to employ 500 or more employees.
Gender Equality Indicators (GEIs) & objectives
The GEIs derive from section 3 of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (the Act) and are reproduced below.
| Item | Gender Equality Indicator (GEI) | Objective |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gender composition of the workforce | Supporting gender equality in the designated relevant employer’s workplace |
| 2 | Gender composition of governing bodies of relevant employers | Supporting and achieving gender equality in the designated relevant employer’s governing body |
| 3 | Equal remuneration between women and men | In relation to employees of the designated relevant employer, ensuring equal remuneration between women and men |
| 4 | Availability and utility of employment terms, conditions and practices relating to flexible working arrangements for employees and to working arrangements supporting employees with family or caring responsibilities | Providing effective flexible working arrangements for employees of the designated relevant employer with family or caring responsibilities |
| 5 | Consultation with employees on issues concerning gender equality in the workplace | Ensuring employees are consulted and have input on issues concerning gender equality in the designated relevant employer’s workplace |
| 6 | Sexual harassment, harassment on the ground of sex or discrimination | Prevention of, and appropriate response to, sexual harassment, harassment on the ground of sex or discrimination in the designated relevant employer’s workplace |
How do I report my organisation’s policies and strategies?
The reporting Questionnaire includes specific questions about your organisation’s policies or strategies to support each of the six GEIs. The applicable questions state which GEI it relates to.
What should my policy or strategy cover?
WGEA has guidance on developing policies and strategies for each GEI.
Employers can incorporate the suggestions in WGEA’s GEI Policy and Strategy Guides to craft or improve their own policies or strategies. However, employers must consider their own workforce and workplace context to determine what areas should be covered in their policies or strategies and achieve the objectives of the GE Standards.
| GEI | Questionnaire section | GE Standard to meet |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Workplace Overview section Question 1.1 | To meet GEI1, you must have a formal policy or strategy to support gender equality in the workplace. Your policy or strategy might cover areas, such as:
|
| 2 | Governing Bodies section Question 1.5(E) | To meet GEI2, you must have a formal policy or strategy to support gender equality in your governing body. The GE Standard also applies where some (but not all) appointments to the governing body are within the employer's control. There may be circumstances where employers have no control over their governing body composition. The employer may:
In these cases, employers can select ‘No - do not have control over governing body/appointments’ in response to the relevant item in the Questionnaire. This will constitute meeting GEI2 for that employer. |
| 3 | Action on Gender Equality section Question 2.1 | To meet GEI3, you must have a formal policy or strategy to support equal remuneration between women and men. Your policy or strategy might cover areas, such as:
The gender pay gap is a measure of how women’s and men’s contributions are valued in the workforce. It is the difference in average or median earnings between women and men. |
| 4 | Flexible working arrangements section Question 3.1 Support for Carers section Question 4.4 | To meet GEI4, you must have formal policies or strategies to support:
A carer refers to, but is not limited to, an employee’s role as the parent (biological, step, adoptive or foster) or guardian of a child, or carer of a child, parent, spouse or domestic partner, close relative, or other dependent or friend. |
| 5 | Employee consultation section Question 2.5 | To meet GEI5, you must have a formal policy or strategy in place to support consultation with employees on issues concerning gender equality in the workplace. Employee consultation is a formalised way to collect information about your employees’ views on the workplace, what is working well and what could be improved. |
| 6 | Sexual harassment section Question 5.1 | To meet GEI6, you must have a formal policy or strategy to support the prevention of, and appropriate response to, sexual harassment, harassment on the ground of sex or discrimination in your workplace. The provisions in a policy and/or strategy for prevention and management of sexual harassment is important for setting workplace culture and achieving a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace. |
Timeframes and requirements to meet the GE Standards
Overview
Under section 19C of the Act, if at the end of a reporting period (the base period) a designated relevant employer does not have a policy or strategy in place for each of the 6 GEIs, they have 2 more reporting periods (the comparison period) to do so, before being taken to be non-compliant. WGEA has an obligation to provide advice and assistance to support employers to become compliant.
Key Points
- Compliance requires having policies or strategies in place to support all six GEIs and confirming this in the reporting Questionnaire.
- If an employer does not have a policy or strategy in place for a reporting period (the base period) they have 2 additional reporting periods after the base period to become compliant.
Private sector employer example:
- Base period: 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026
- Lodgement period: 1 April – 31 May 2026
- Comparison period: 2027-28
- Assessment year: 2028. WGEA will assess compliance during this year based on the 2027–28 Report lodged in April–May 2028 (or approved extension period).
Scenario:
- A private sector employer with 500 or more employees lodges their 2025-26 Gender Equality Report but did not have a policy or strategy relating to GEI6.
- This 2025-26 report is their ‘base period’
- They have two more reporting periods to meet the GE Standards:
- 2026-27 Report: reporting period 1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027 and lodgement period 1 April 2027 – 31 May 2027.
- 2027-28 Report: reporting period 1 April 2027 – 31 March 2028 and lodgement period 1 April 2028 – 31 May 2028.
Commonwealth public sector employer example:
- Base period: 1 January – 31 December 2026
- Lodgement period: 1 September – 31 October 2027
- Comparison period: 2028
- Assessment year: 2029. WGEA will assess compliance during this year based on the 2028 Report lodged in September–October 2029 (or approved extension period).
Scenario:
- A Commonwealth public sector employer with 500 or more employees lodges their 2026 Gender Equality Report but did not have a policy or strategy relating to GEI6.
- This 2026 report is their ‘base period’
- They have two more reporting periods to meet the GE Standards:
- 2027 Report: reporting period 1 January 2027 – 31 December 2027 and lodgement period 1 September 2028 – 31 October 2028.
- 2028 Report: reporting period 1 January 2028 – 31 December 2028 and lodgement period 1 September 2029 – 31 October 2029.
What if you do not meet the GE Standards?
If you do not meet the GE Standards by having policies or strategies in place to support each of the six GEIs, you will:
- be notified that you did not meet the GE Standards for the base period, and
- have two reporting periods (the comparison period) to meet the GE Standards before you risk becoming non-compliant
- if at the end of the comparison period you still do not have policies or strategies in place to support each of the six GEIs, you will be non-compliant with the Act.
For further information about your compliance requirements, including WGEA’s Compliance Strategy, refer to Reporting compliance.
Compliance for DREs in a corporate group
Failure to meet the GE Standards compliance requirements will result in the DREs non-compliance. This will not affect the compliance status of other related entities in the organisational structure.
This differs from other compliance requirements, where failure by a subsidiary to meet its compliance requirements will result in the corporate group and/or the parent company being non-compliant.
Please refer to Consequences of non-compliance for more information.
WGEA support
We offer a range of resources and assistance to help employers improve gender equality in their workplace and comply with the GE Standards legislative requirements.
- WGEA: Take Action|Employer Guides and Resources
- Workplace Gender Equality Action Planning Playbook
- Gender Pay Gap Analysis Guide: Find the cause of your gender pay gap
- WGEA's masterclasses and learning events
Also refer to Support & contact us for when and how to contact us for additional support.
Legislative resources
Further information about the GE standards and GEIs is available at Our Legislation | WGEA.
- Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.
- Workplace Gender Equality (Gender Equality Standards) Instrument 2023
- Workplace Gender Equality (Matters in relation to Gender Equality Indicators) Instrument 2023.