In a significant step towards closing the gender pay gap, reforms to the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cth) (“Act”) have been announced. These reforms, which provide the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (“WGEA”) with what amounts to a ‘name and shame’ power, may also arm employees and candidates with information they desire leading into salary and promotion negotiations.
On 30 March 2023, the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 (“Bill”) was passed by Parliament. The Bill, which amends the, introduces a range of reforms into law which are designed to increase pay transparency.
The most significant of these reforms are changes to the reporting obligations of Australia’s. These changes, summarised below, will soon lead to information about gender pay gaps within certain employers’ workforces, becoming public.
The position to date
Certain employers, including private sector employers with 100 or more employees (“Affected Employers“) have, since 2012, been required to provide the WGEA with annual information about:
- gender pay equity;
- gender composition at all levels of their workforce;
- gender composition, as relevant, of their governing bodies;
- workplace sexual harassment;
- recruitment and promotion;
- gendered work segregation; and
- leave and flexibility,
(together, the “Gender Equality Indicators”).
Other than in limited circumstances, the Act requires Affected Employers to provide the WGEA with reports of information relevant to the Gender Equality Indicators on an annual basis.
In recent years, the WGEA has collated and analysed this information and publicly reported on it. This analysis has, to date, only ever been published at an industry-specific level. It has not previously included information about Affected Employers’ individual practices.
New changes
Publication of employer-specific gender pay gaps
As a consequence of the Bill, the WGEA is, going forward, able to publish gender pay gap information provided by Affected Employers in each reporting period. This means that, for the first time, individual Affected Employers’ remuneration practices will be publicised.
The WGEA will first publish this information in early 2024, which will account for information reported by Affected Employers for the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. It will not publicise information provided by Affected Employers in previous reporting periods.
Additional reporting obligations
Additionally, from 1 April 2023 (and 1 January 2024 for Commonwealth entities), employers with at least 500 employees (“Designated Employers”) will also be required to supply additional information to the WGEA about their policies and strategies as relevant to each of the Gender Equality Indicators [1].
This reform aligns with recently introduced minimum standards which require Designated Employers to have policies and strategies in place which address each of the following gender equality indicators and objectives:
| Item | Column 1Gender equality indicator | Column2Objective |
| 1 | Gender composition of the workforce | Supporting gender equality in the designated relevant employer’s workplace |
| 2 | Gender composition of governing bodies of relevant employers | Supporting and achieving gender equality in the designated relevant employer’s governing body |
| 3 | Equal remuneration between women and men | In relation to employees of the designated relevant employer, ensuring equal remuneration between women and men |
| 4 | Availability and utility of employment terms, conditions and practices relating to flexible working arrangements for employees and to working arrangements supporting employees with family or caring responsibilities | Providing effective flexible working arrangements for employees of the designated relevant employer with family or caring responsibilities |
| 5 | Consultation with employees on issues concerning gender equality in the workplace | Ensuring employees are consulted and have input on issues concerning gender equality in the designated relevant employer’s workplace |
| 6 | Sexual harassment, harassment on the ground of sex or discrimination | Prevention of, and appropriate response to, sexual harassment, harassment on the ground of sex or discrimination in the designated relevant employer’s workplace |
Employees empowered in the competitive job market
Affected Employers are now on notice that a failure to take positive steps to remedy gender inequality in the workplace – particularly in setting remuneration – will soon attract greater public scrutiny.
The WGEA’s future publication of this information is likely to have a direct bearing on the ability of employers to market themselves to the labour market as an employer of choice. Prospective job candidates, as well as current employee, will also be armed with this information leading in to salary negotiations.
It may also be that this change is looked back on, in coming years, as a marker of significant historical progress in closing the gender wage gap. Affected Employers – or employers potentially on the cusp of being classified as an Affected Employer – would do well to bear these reforms in mind when reviewing workforce remuneration as the Australian financial year soon draws to a close.
Authors: Kristy Peacock-Smith, Ethan Aitchison, Alexander Dimovski
For further information, please contact:
Kristy Peacock-Smith, Partner, Bird & Bird
kristy.peacock-smith@twobirds.com
[1]Workplace Gender Equality (Gender Equality Standards) Instrument 2023 (Cth), s 6(1).
