Reporting overview and templates

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. 

Where workforce data is already captured by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC), the APSC can provide some of this data directly to WGEA on behalf of reporting agencies. Data will be transferred to WGEA by the APSC only if the employer opted for this when registering to report with WGEA. The data that will be transferred is:

• the whole of the Workplace Profile (employers will not need to submit the Workplace Profile file) and
• answers to questions 1-4 of the Workforce Management Statistics (employers will still need submit a Workforce Management Statistics file answering questions 5-7).

Questionnaire

Find the questions being asked in the Questionnaire in 2024 (for the 2023 reporting year), below. Please note that the Questionnaire is to be filled out online, in the Portal—the below is provided for your review, only.

Workforce Management Statistics

Find the Workforce Management Statistics template for you to fill out and submit in the Portal, below.

For those having their data transferred by the APSC

For those not having their data transferred by the APSC

Workforce Profile

Those not having their data transferred by the APSC need to fill out and submit either the Unit level or STP-calculated Workplace Profile template, below. For more information on which template to use, see the Workplace Profile part of this guide.
 

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 lodge 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. 

If you experience any difficulties preparing and lodging your report by 31 October, you can apply for a four-week extension. 

• An extension must be applied for within the reporting period 1 September to 31 October.  
• We are unable to approve extension requests received after 31 October.  
• Once approved, we will send you an email confirming that your report is due to be lodged by 30 November. 
• We will not consider any reporting extensions past 30 November.  

To apply for an extension, you can do one of the following: 

• log into our Reporting Portal and lodge a support request under ‘general enquiry’, with the heading ‘Application for extension’, or 
• email us using this extension request link. 

What happens if the deadline is missed? 

Employers that fail to meet their deadline are non-compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act.  

They will be given the opportunity to provide a reasonable excuse for not lodging their report. If we do not receive/accept the reasonable excuse, we will consider naming the employer on our website or in a report to our Minister.

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. 

An employer will comply with the Act if they: 

• lodge 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
• inform/share relevant parts of their submission with their governing body, employees, shareholders and employee groups. For more information, see Requirement to inform stakeholders and
• give a copy of the Executive Summary and Industry Benchmark Report to each member of the employer’s governing body (if any) as soon as practicable after receiving the documents. For more information, see Sharing your executive summary and Comparing your data: the Industry Benchmark Report.

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 the six Gender Equality Indicators to remain compliant. Employers need to have these policies or strategies in place by the end of 2024 to advise in next years report they are meeting the requirements. 

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 

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.