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Workplace Gender Equality Reporting – Regulation Impact Statement

Department of Employment

On 25 February 2015 the Minister for Employment and the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women jointly announced changes to gender reporting requirements for employers with more than 100 employees. The current gender reporting framework provides for individual organisations to monitor, reflect upon and improve their own gender equality performance. The announced changes remove some of the requirements in relation to reporting by organisations. The changes mean that employers will not be required to provide data on:

  • remuneration of Chief Executive Officers or equivalent, key management personnel above the Chief Executive Officer and managers employed on a casual basis;
  • workers engaged on a contract for services basis (e.g. independent contractors who run their own business and negotiate their own fees);
  • separate components of total remuneration such as bonus payments, superannuation, discretionary pay, overtime and other allowances;
  • information on the number of applications received for employment and interviews conducted; and
  • the number of requests made, and approvals granted, for extensions to parental leave.

A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) prepared by the Department of Employment notes that the amended reporting requirements seek to strike a balance between the effort of reporting and the benefits to be gained by individual businesses using the data to analyse gender equality in their organisations. The proposal is expected to have average annual regulatory saving of $6.9 million. The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has agreed to the regulatory cost saving. The RIS was certified by the Department of Employment under the Australian Government’s best practice regulation requirements, and has been assessed as compliant and consistent with best practice by the OBPR.