The workplace gender equality reporting requirements have been criticised for being too onerous on employers. But changes are afoot. On 25 February 2015, Senator Eric Abetz, the Minister for Employment, and Senator Michaelia Cash, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, announced changes aimed at reducing the complexity of the reporting requirements.
Data no longer required
Commencing 1 April 2015, the extent of the required reporting will be cut down. Employers will no longer be required to report on data such as senior employee remuneration and requests and approval for the extension of parental leave. The full list of changes are provided in the government’s information sheet.
New requirements
We expect the new data reporting requirements will provide some interesting statistics. These are:
- appointments, promotions and resignations for managers and non-managers; and
- the proportion of employees that ceased employment following parental leave for managers and non-managers.
What the statistics will show about ceased employment around parental leave will be particularly intriguing. These figures will cover resignations as well as redundancies and will cover the field – all employees who have been on parental leave: not just managers, and not just women.
The changes will not impact the current reporting period, with reports due to be lodged with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency between 1 April and 31 May this year.