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Gender reporting requirements streamlined

ADDITIONAL gender reporting requirements passed by the former Labor government and set to come into play from April 1 this year have been scrapped by the Abbott Government, meaning categorised remunerations, job applications and chief executive salaries will not be included in the Coalition’s ‘streamlined’ gender reporting structure for 2015-16.

Introduced under the former Labor government, the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 required private businesses employing 100 workers or more to report gender statistics on an annual basis.

However, following consultation with businesses deemed eligible for the reporting requirements, employment minister Eric Abetz said the current gender equality reporting framework ‘can be streamlined while still meeting the policy objectives’.

“Employers expressed strong support for gender equality in the workplace and want to make a difference,” Minister Abetz said.

“However, many found the reporting regime overly complex and time consuming and are not confident it will help them to improve gender equality within their organisation.

“This announcement will ensure that employers can see the value for their effort and that the community can benefit from the data – such prerequisites should be obvious for any such reporting.”

Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Women Michaelia Cash said that while businesses of 100 employees or more would still be required to report their gender balances, many would find the process less ‘onerous’.

“The government will remove the most onerous of Labor’s additional requirements that were due to be introduced on 1 April 2015, including the requirement on separate components of remuneration for each employee,” she said.

“Reporting on job applications and interviews will also be removed, and employers will not need to report on CEO salaries from the 2015-16 reporting period.

“These changes will ensure that the overall cost of reporting will be reduced by more than one third for each reporting organisation, based on the future reporting requirements.”

Other reporting requirements to be excluded include the number of requests made and approvals granted for extensions to parental leave, and information about workers engaged on a contract for services basis.

While feedback from the consultation process found that employers had difficulty reporting against non-manager categories, Senators Cash and Abetz indicated there was ‘no simple answer to improving non-manager categories’.

Reporting requirements relating to non-manger categories were decided to continue, however a working group comprising leading business women – including ACCI’s Kate Carnell and Transfield Services’ Dianne Smith-Gander – were appointed to assess the matter further.

For more information about the changes to gender reporting requirements, click here.

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