The WGEA (Workplace Gender Equality Agency) was established to promote and improve workplace gender equality in Australia. The agency is responsible for administering the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 and the Compliance Reporting Program which were both introduced in 2012.
The Compliance Reporting Program is a mandatory standardised reporting framework which requires ‘relevant employers’ to report against six Gender Equality Indicators (GEI’s) on an annual basis. A ‘relevant employer’ is a non-public sector employer who had at least 100 employees or will have at least 100 employees (across all business entities) for 6 or more months (can be non-consecutive) of the reporting period. The reporting period is fixed each year for the dates 1 April (previous year) - 31 March (current year). Employees that should be included in the head count are:
- Full time employees
- Part time employees
- Casual employees
- Temporary (fixed term) employees
Independent contractors and labour hire employees should not be included in the head count.
If a ‘relevant employers’ head count drops below 100, they must continue to report until the head count falls below 80 for at least 6 months of the reporting period (can be non-consecutive). If the head count falls below the required level for reporting, the employer must notify the agency via a support request, to cease the reporting and remain compliant.
‘Relevant employers’ must report their data via the WGEA Portal during the period 1 April - 31 May each year to meet their compliance obligations. Once the agency has reviewed the data, an internal report is produced and provided to the employer.
Public sector employers are able to voluntarily enrol for the Voluntary Reporting Program if they wish to complete the reporting requirements.
Businesses that have over 500 employees have an additional compliance reporting requirement relating to their policies. This is referred to as the minimum standard.
Data to be reported
- Organisational details
- Questionnaire
- WorkForce management statistics
- Workplace profile
- Minimum standard - for businesses with over 500 employees
Of the above data sets, the payroll system can report on some data relating to:
- WorkForce management statistics
- Workplace profile
The sections below will outline the data that is required, and if/how this data can be extracted from the payroll system.
Workforce management statistics
Report how many employees in the period:
- Were promoted: You could use the 'notes' functionality to enter any promotion date, and then run/export the employee details audit report, filtered using the 'notes' section. This will show any notes that have been added to the employee file.
- Were appointed, internally and externally: Again, you could use the same 'notes' method as above
- Voluntarily resigned: The system can report on inactive employees and the termination reason provided. The termination date and reason are already available in the employee details report.
- Took parental leave, paid or unpaid, and returned to work: The system can report on leave taken but not whether the parent was the primary or secondary carer. The leave taken data is available in the leave history report, this would need to be filtered by the required leave category.
- Ceased employment before returning from parental leave: The system can report on inactive employees, their termination reason and their leave history. The user would need to compare the data from the leave history and employee details reports to confirm whether they ceased employment whilst on leave or after returning to work.
Where the system can provide data for the items outlined above, the user would need to transfer the data into the import template, manually adding the additional data that the system cannot provide.
Workplace profile
- Employee ID: This information is available in the employee details report.
- Employing ABN: This information is available in the employee details report.
- Occupation category (as per ANZSCO standard): You could use the 'notes' functionality to enter any promotion date, and then run/export the employee details audit report, filtered using the 'notes' section. This will show any notes that have been added to the employee file.
- Manager category: You could use the 'notes' functionality to enter any promotion date, and then run/export the employee details audit report, filtered using the 'notes' section. This will show any notes that have been added to the employee file.
- Level to the CEO: You could use the 'notes' functionality to enter any promotion date, and then run/export the employee details audit report, filtered using the 'notes' section. This will show any notes that have been added to the employee file.
- Gender (F = female, M = male, X = non-binary gender): The gender is available in the employee details report. The user would need to convert the gender to the relevant ‘code’ for the import file.
- Graduate or apprentice (G - graduate, A = apprentice): You could use the 'notes' functionality to enter any promotion date, and then run/export the employee details audit report, filtered using the 'notes' section. This will show any notes that have been added to the employee file.
- Employment type (FT = full-time, PT = part-time, CE = casual): The system can report on ‘employment type’, however the export field covers both the employment type and status fields from the import template. The ‘employment type’ is already available in the employee details report. The user would need to split the data out into the employment type and status for the import file.
- Employment status (permanent, contract, casual): The system can report on ‘employment type’, however the field covers both the employment type and status fields from the import template. The ‘employment type’ is already available in the employee details report. The user would need to split the data out into the employment type and status for the import file.
- Date of birth: You care able to report on date of birth. The DOB is already available in the employee details report. The year of birth would need to be manually split out from the rest of the DOB for the import file.
- Postcode: You can report addresses. The address data is already available in the employee details report. The postcode would need to be split out from the rest of the address for the import file.
- Industry sub-division (as per ANZSIC standard): There is no functionality to report on this, aside from using the 'notes' function as mentioned earlier.
- Industry class (as per ANZSIC standard): There is no functionality to report on this, aside from using the 'notes' function as mentioned earlier.
- Ordinary hours (for the period - daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly): You can report on ordinary hours and pay schedule. This data is already available in the employee details report. The user would need to ensure the hours for the schedule match the frequency in the import file.
- Employee start date: You can report on employee start date. The start data is already available in the employee details report.
- Base salary (paid):You can report base salary paid. The earnings are already available in the payment history report.
- Base salary (fixed): You can report on base salary paid. The earnings are already available in the payment history report.
- OTE (paid): You can report on OTE paid. The earnings are already available in the payment history report.
- OTE (fixed): You can report on OTE paid. The earnings are already available in the payment history report.
- Super (paid): You can report on employee super payments. The payment details are already available in the super payments page.
- Allowances (paid): You can report on employee allowances paid. The allowance data is already available in the payment history report.
- Fringe benefits (paid): You can report on employee fringe benefits recorded, if you have set them up as employer liabilities, by running the employer liabilities report. Alternatively, if you are adding the fringe benefits manually into each pay event (or finalisation event), you can view this data by clicking on the relevant STP event via the Reports > Single touch payroll page.
- ESS (total vested income received by the employee from employee share schemes): This is not available.
Where the system can provide data for the items outlined above, the user would need to transfer the data into the import template, manually adding the additional data that the system cannot provide.