AUSTRALIAN employers are now, for the first time, required by law to provide data about appointments, promotions and resignations by gender to the Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).

The requirement under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 forms part of annual reporting of gender data by Australian employers with 100 or more employees. The 2016 reporting period opened for two months on 1 April.

This year, the legislation requires relevant employers to provide data about appointments, promotions and resignations by gender, manager/non-manager, and whether promotions and resignations were part-time, full-time or casual.

The impact of parenthood on workforce retention will also be captured with employers providing information about employees leaving the workforce following parental leave.

While these reporting requirements have been added, several previous requirements have been discontinued. Employers will no longer have to report the salaries of CEOs, managers above the CEO level, or casual managers. Nor will they have to provide data on independent contractors.

WGEA director Libby Lyons said the new data would help uncover the drivers of unbalanced gender outcomes in the workforce.

“This will shine a light on drivers of workplace discrimination that ultimately lead to unbalanced outcomes for women such as gender pay gaps and a lack of women in management. Importantly, this new data will give us insights into the actions employers will need to take in their own organisations to boost women’s workforce participation and representation,” Ms Lyons said.

“This will help employers to identify ‘hot spots’ of gender inequality for women and men within their own organisation.

“When employers report to the Agency, they are contributing to a powerful evidence base on the challenges and potential solutions to workplace gender equality.”

The new data will be available toward the end of 2016.

Visit the WGEA website for more information.