TL;DR: WGEA reporting is the annual Gender Equality Report that Australian employers with 100 or more employees lodge with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. It covers the 1 April to 31 March year, opens for lodgement from 1 April to 31 May, and closes for good on 31 July. Employers with 500 or more staff must also set targets.
Last updated 11 October 2026.
Key takeaways
- According to WGEA, you must report if you employ 100 or more people in Australia, or 80 or more once you have reported before.
- The reporting period runs from 1 April to 31 March, and the lodgement period from 1 April to 31 May each year.
- For the 2026 program, WGEA made 31 July a hard close: reports cannot be lodged after that date, even with an extension.
- Employers that directly employ 500 or more people must select three gender equality targets and meet or improve against them within three years.
- WGEA has published employer gender pay gaps since 2024, and its 2026 release covered around 8,500 employers.
What is WGEA reporting?
WGEA reporting is the process Australian employers use to report on gender equality in their workplace each year. WGEA stands for the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, the government agency that administers the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. Employers lodge a Gender Equality Report covering workforce composition, pay, and workplace policies, and WGEA publishes the results.
The agency is older than its name. According to WGEA, the Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act 1986 established the agency now known as WGEA, and September 2026 marked 40 years since that law passed. Today, WGEA says it collects and publishes data from around 10,500 employers covering almost 5.9 million employees.
Social and legal pressure to prioritise gender equality in the workplace has grown with it. The 2023 reforms, which followed the prohibition of pay secrecy clauses, required WGEA to publish the gender pay gaps of individual employers. Then, in 2025, Parliament added gender equality targets for the largest employers.
So the report has changed from a compliance return that few people read into public data about your organisation. Candidates, employees, and boards can now look up your gender pay gap on WGEA’s Employer Data Explorer.
Who needs to submit a WGEA report?
According to WGEA, you must report if you employ 100 or more people in Australia, or expect to for at least six months of the reporting period. Once you have reported, you keep reporting while you employ 80 or more. The rule covers private sector employers, Commonwealth public sector employers, public companies, higher education providers, and not-for-profits.
State and territory government entities do not report to WGEA. For everyone else, the count includes full-time, part-time, casual, and fixed-term employees. However, it excludes self-employed contractors and staff placed with you by a recruitment agency.
Corporate groups count across every employing entity. A parent company with 60 staff and two subsidiaries of 30 each reports, because the group reaches 120. Moreover, WGEA says a subsidiary that fails a compliance requirement makes the parent non-compliant, so groups need one person who can see every entity’s data.
What does the report include?
Each report covers six gender equality indicators set by the Act. In plain terms, they are:
- the gender composition of the workforce
- the gender composition of governing bodies, such as the board
- equal remuneration between women and men, including the gender pay gap
- flexible working and support for employees with family or caring responsibilities
- consultation with employees on gender equality
- the prevention of, and response to, sexual harassment, sex-based harassment, and discrimination.
The aim is to monitor Australia’s progress towards gender equality, one employer at a time.
What does the WGEA report aim to achieve?
The WGEA report aims to encourage transparency and accountability on gender equality at work. It gives each employer a consistent picture of its workforce and pay, lets it benchmark against its industry, and gives WGEA national data. Because results are published, the report also creates public pressure to act on what it shows.
Every employer that lodges receives an Executive Summary and an Industry Benchmark Report. According to WGEA, the CEO must give both to each member of the governing body, if there is one. As a result, the board sees the organisation’s gender pay gap and how it compares with peers.
At a national level, the data feeds WGEA’s annual Gender Equality Scorecard. According to the 2024-25 Scorecard, the private sector’s average total remuneration gender pay gap is 21.1%. That figure comes straight from employer reports, so every accurate submission improves the picture.
When does a WGEA report need to be submitted?
A WGEA report covers a 12-month reporting period from 1 April to 31 March. You then lodge it during the lodgement period, 1 April to 31 May. If you need more time, you must apply for an extension before 31 May. Extensions run to 30 June or 31 July, and 31 July is the final close.
The 2026 program tightened that last date. According to WGEA, the reporting program, including any extension, ends on 31 July, and reports cannot be lodged after it. In addition, WGEA offers an automatic one-month extension on application, while two months requires reasonable grounds.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 April to 31 March | Reporting period: the 12 months your data covers |
| 1 April to 31 May | Lodgement period, and the deadline to apply for an extension |
| 30 June or 31 July | End of an approved one or two-month extension |
| 31 July | Program closes; no lodgement or edits after this date |
| September to October | WGEA issues certificates of compliance |
| November | Scorecard and the non-compliant list are published |
| February to March | Employer gender pay gaps are published |
After you lodge, you normally have 28 days to review and amend the report. For instance, a report lodged on 17 July has only 14 days of review left, because nothing can be edited after 31 July.
Which date does your data reflect?
The Questionnaire and the Workforce Management Statistics cover the full 12 months. By contrast, the Workplace Profile is a snapshot of every employee on one date you choose within the period. WGEA recommends keeping that snapshot date the same each year, so your results compare cleanly over time.
What are the WGEA reporting requirements?
Each year a relevant employer must prepare and lodge three documents: a Questionnaire on policies and actions, Workforce Management Statistics on hires, promotions, and exits, and a Workplace Profile listing every employee and their pay. The CEO signs off the public reports before lodgement. Afterwards, employees and unions must be told they can comment.
Here is what each part asks for:
- Questionnaire: Your policies, strategies, and actions across the six indicators, completed inside WGEA’s Employer Portal.
- Workforce Management Statistics: Employee movements over the full year, such as appointments, promotions, resignations, and parental leave, with one worksheet per employing ABN.
- Workplace Profile: One row per employee with gender, occupation, employment type, year of birth, and annualised, full-time equivalent pay.
- CEO sign-off: The CEO or equivalent reviews and approves the Public Reports before you lodge.
- Notification and access: After lodging, you make the public reports available to employees and shareholders, and inform employee organisations.
The Workplace Profile is where most of the effort goes. WGEA wants base salary and total remuneration converted to annualised, full-time equivalent figures, so a part-time employee’s pay is shown as if they worked full time. In 2026, year of birth also became mandatory. Furthermore, WGEA will move from ANZSCO to OSCA occupation codes for the 2027 program.
Policies count too. A formal policy is a written document approved by HR or management, and WGEA distinguishes it from an informal practice or an all-staff email. A current set of workplace policies therefore makes the Questionnaire much faster.
What extra rules apply to employers with 500 or more staff?
Employers that directly employ 500 or more people in Australia are designated relevant employers. Under the Act, they must select three gender equality targets from WGEA’s menu and meet or improve against each within three years. They must also have a formal policy or strategy supporting each of the six gender equality indicators.
The targets started in 2026. According to WGEA, the menu offers 19 options, 9 numeric and 10 action targets, and at least one target must be numeric. Custom targets are not allowed. In addition, targets must be submitted before the report can be lodged, and they cannot be changed afterwards.
The 500 test applies to each employing entity, not the group. So a group with three subsidiaries of 300 staff each has no designated relevant employer, even though it employs 900 people. An entity stops being one when its headcount falls below 400 for six continuous months.
The rules are still moving. According to WGEA, the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 18 September 2026, adds a 12-month gap between target cycles. That gives large employers time to assess one cycle before choosing the next set of targets.
What does WGEA publish, and what happens if you do not comply?
WGEA publishes every relevant employer’s average and median gender pay gaps, for base salary and total remuneration, plus composition by pay quartile. Employers can add a voluntary Employer Statement explaining their results. An employer that misses its obligations can be named in Parliament or publicly, and loses its certificate of compliance.
Publication applies to employers that report 80 or more employees. According to WGEA, it published employer gender pay gaps for the first time in 2024. Its March 2026 release covered around 8,500 employers and 1,600 corporate groups, with each employing ABN over 80 staff shown separately. For that reason, a subsidiary’s gap is visible even inside a larger group.
The certificate matters beyond reputation. Without one, an employer may be unable to compete for Commonwealth contracts under the Workplace Gender Equality Procurement Principles, or to receive some Commonwealth grants. Giving WGEA false or misleading information is also a criminal offence under the Act.
WGEA follows a set process before naming anyone. It first issues a notice asking for information. Then, if it intends to name the employer, it gives at least 28 days to respond. According to WGEA, being busy during the lodgement period, or changing CEO, is unlikely to count as a reasonable excuse.
What difficulties do HR leaders encounter when reporting WGEA?
HR leaders most often struggle to pull consistent people and pay data from several systems. Next comes formatting it to WGEA’s templates inside a short window. Then they must explain what the results mean. Underneath sits a harder problem: the data usually reveals structural patterns that a policy change alone will not fix.
Data collection and management
In practice, many organisations tell us that bringing together accurate and consistent demographic and pay data is one of their biggest challenges. Information is often spread across HR and payroll systems, so someone reconciles, interprets, and validates it by hand. That is especially common where several entities each run their own payroll.
Formatting and submission
Even once the data is prepared, teams must format it precisely, pass WGEA’s validation checks, and lodge it within a two-month window. Customers consistently describe this as time-consuming and resource-intensive. For example, WGEA’s 2026 template flags total remuneration lower than base salary, a manager occupation in a non-manager category, and a missing year of birth.
Analysis and interpretation
Turning raw data into insight is a recurring theme. HR teams find it hard to separate like-for-like pay differences from the organisation-wide gender pay gap. They also have to explain to senior leaders why equal pay and the gender pay gap are different measures, and why both matter.
Underlying causes
Customer data frequently shows women concentrated in lower-paid roles, under-represented in leadership, and held back by part-time work or extended leave. Addressing these patterns takes more than a policy update. Instead, it means tackling bias in performance and promotion decisions and investing in long-term cultural change.
How can you make WGEA reporting easier?
Most of the effort disappears when your people data lives in one place all year rather than being assembled each April. Keep one record per employee with job history, so the snapshot date and leavers take care of themselves. Then check the output, because the CEO signs off on it.
There are three common approaches. Spreadsheets built from payroll exports work for a first report but break as headcount grows. By contrast, specialist WGEA reporting software adds depth, though it becomes another system to keep in sync. Finally, your HRIS can prepare the data from records you already keep, which is the case for a WGEA compliant HRIS.
If you want the report prepared from your HR system, Worknice is a sensible option for Australian organisations of roughly 100 to 1,000 employees. Its WGEA reporting app builds the Workplace Profile from live records, and payroll stays the source of truth. However, a large group wanting advanced pay equity modelling may prefer a specialist tool alongside its HRIS.
Frequently asked questions
What does WGEA stand for?
WGEA stands for the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. It is the Australian Government statutory agency created by the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012. It collects gender equality data from employers with 100 or more employees, publishes national and employer results, and helps employers improve workplace gender equality through guides, benchmarks, and advice.
Who has to report to WGEA?
Employers with 100 or more employees in Australia must report to WGEA each year. That includes private sector employers, Commonwealth public sector employers, public companies, higher education providers, and not-for-profits. An employer that has reported before must keep reporting while it has 80 or more employees. State and territory government entities are excluded.
When is the WGEA reporting deadline in 2026?
The 2026 lodgement period ran from 1 April to 31 May. Employers that applied for an extension before 31 May could lodge by 30 June or 31 July. WGEA made 31 July the final close for the whole program, so no report can be lodged or edited after that date.
What happens if you do not submit a WGEA report?
An employer that does not lodge on time is non-compliant. WGEA can name it in a report tabled in Parliament or publicly, and will not issue a certificate of compliance. Without a certificate, the employer may be unable to tender for some Commonwealth contracts or receive certain Commonwealth grants and financial assistance.
Do all employers have to set WGEA targets?
No. Only employers that directly employ 500 or more people in Australia must select three gender equality targets. They must meet or improve against each within three years, and at least one must be numeric. The test applies to each employing entity, so a group of smaller subsidiaries may have no target obligations.
About the author
Graham Martin is Co-founder of Worknice, an Australian HRIS built for mid-to-large organisations. He has spent more than a decade working with Australian People and Culture teams on HR systems, compliance, and payroll integration.
Related reading
- Automated WGEA data submission: how report data reaches WGEA with less manual handling.
- Gender equality reporting software: what these tools cover across the six gender equality indicators.
- Types of flexible working: the arrangements the flexible work indicator asks about.
- The Worknice WGEA reporting feature: how the report is prepared from employee records.
Sources
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Who needs to report?”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/reporting/reporting-guide/eligibility
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Reporting dates”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/reporting/reporting-guide/dates
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Reporting changes”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/reporting/reporting-guide/changes
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Reporting steps”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/reporting/reporting-guide/steps
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Reporting compliance”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/reporting/reporting-guide/compliance
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Consequences of non-compliance”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/reporting/reporting-guide/compliance/non-compliance
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Gender Equality Targets overview”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/reporting/reporting-guide/compliance/targets
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Publishing employer gender pay gaps”. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/about/our-legislation/publishing-employer-gender-pay-gaps
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Employer Gender Pay Gaps Report”. Published 3 March 2026. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/publications/employer-gender-pay-gaps-report
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “WGEA Gender Equality Scorecard 2024-25”. Published 27 November 2025. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/publications/australias-gender-equality-scorecard
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “Statement: Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2026”. Published 28 September 2026. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/newsroom/Regulatory_Reform_Omnibus_Bill
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency, “40-year commitment continues to drive workplace gender equality”. Published 2 September 2026. Retrieved 11 October 2026: https://www.wgea.gov.au/newsroom/40-years-WGEA-workplace-gender-equality
