Government revamps gender reporting requirements for employers

New reporting requirements for major employers, including banks and aggregators, under the new gender equality in the workplace laws have been tabled in parliament, says minister for the status of women, Julie Collins.

Collins says the new reporting model will be simpler for employers, as they’ll no longer have to fill out lengthy descriptions of their workplace programs.

“For the first time, the reports will contain actual data, including the number of women and men in a workplace, what roles they fill and how much they are paid. These are the things that really count in terms of measuring the experiences of women and men in Australian workplaces.”

The reporting requirements are part of the Workplace Gender Equality Act passed by the parliament last November and apply to employers with 100 or more employees.

The new system comes into effect on April 1 and enables information to be gathered against six key gender equality indicators:

• Gender composition of the workforce
• Gender composition of governing bodies of employers
• Equal remuneration between women and men
• 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
• Consultation with employees on issues concerning gender equality in the workplace
• Sex-based harassment and discrimination - information on whether sex-based harassment and discrimination prevention strategies or policies are in place.

 “Employers will be able to see what is really happening in their workplaces, compare themselves to competitors in their industry and develop strategies in their own way. This will have significant impacts by increasing women’s ability to work and flexibility for women and men to help balance family and employment needs.”