Overview

About

This guidance is for duty holders under the Gender Equality Act 2020(opens in a new window) (the Act).

Visit the Commissioner’s website for a list of duty holders(opens in a new window).

Under the Act, duty holders must undertake a workplace gender audit every 4 years when they develop their gender equality action plan (GEAP).

In addition, the Gender Equality Regulations 2020(opens in a new window) (the Regulations) require duty holders to undertake a progress audit when developing their progress report.

In years when both a GEAP and a progress report is due, a single audit supports both obligations. This guidance uses the term ‘audit’ to cover both types of audits.

Undertaking an audit helps you:

• understand gender inequality in your organisation
• identify what you need to do to address gender inequality using the 7 workplace gender equality indicators(opens in a new window) in the Act
• measure your progress against the workplace gender equality indicators.

What is an audit

An audit involves the collection and submission of two types of data for the reporting period.

• Workforce data – information about your employees and governing body. This is gathered from your internal data collection systems. For example, HR and payroll data.
• Employee experience data – information about the experiences your employees have in the workplace. This information is obtained through an anonymous survey of your workforce.

These two sets of information can be analysed to produce results that align to one or more gender equality indicators.

Why audits are important

An audit helps you understand gender inequality in your workplace. It helps you see your progress towards workplace gender equality.

You can use audit data in your gender equality action plan (GEAP). It allows you to identify gaps, areas for improvement and challenges.

You can also compare audit data over time to track your achievements in relation to the workplace gender equality indicators.

Audits help you understand whether the strategies and measures in your GEAP are working.

They allow you to see where you need to focus.

They also help you determine the best strategies and measures for your next GEAP.

Your reporting timeline

You must undertake an audit every 2 years. This begins with the audit submitted for your first GEAP.

You must submit your next audit by 1 December 2025 via the Commissioner’s reporting platform(opens in a new window).

Audit Reporting Period

For most duty holders, your audit will cover data from the previous financial year.

That means for the 2025 audit, the reporting period is 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.

Universities have a different reporting timeline. This aligns with their existing reporting obligations under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cth).

The reporting period for universities’ 2025 audit is 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Your obligation timelines

Gender equality action plans

You must submit a gender equality action plan (GEAP) every 4 years.

The next GEAPs are due on 1 May 2026.

Progress reports

You must submit a progress report every second year after submitting a GEAP.

This means that every second progress report will be submitted alongside a new GEAP.

If you have previously submitted a GEAP, your progress report is due on 1 May 2026.

If you are submitting your first GEAP on 1 May 2026, you do not need to submit a progress report.

Audits

You must undertake an audit every 2 years.

You must submit your audit data on or before 1 December 2025 via the Commissioner’s reporting platform(opens in a new window).

What you need to do

Preparing, collecting and analysing your data can take time.

You should start setting up the systems you need as soon as possible.

This guidance corresponds with the following templates:

Note that organisations participating in the People Matter Survey do not need to complete the 2025 employee experience reporting template.

Part 1: Prepare your audit data

Part 1: Prepare your audit data(opens in a new window) helps you prepare for your audit and collect your data.

We recommend you use the following steps.

• Step 1: Prepare for your audit
• Step 2: Collect your audit data

Part 2: Complete your audit

Part 2: Complete your audit(opens in a new window) helps you complete your audit, upload and review your audit data. It also provides instructions for submitting your audit via the reporting platform.

• Step 3: Upload your audit data
• Step 4: Review your audit reports
• Step 5: Modify and re-upload your audit data
• Step 6: Finalise and submit your audit

Part 3: Analysing your audit results

Part 3: Analysing your audit results(opens in a new window) outlines the workplace gender equality indicator data measures that are constructed from the data you have uploaded.

Part 4: Audit handbook

Part 4: Audit handbook(opens in a new window) helps you understand the data you need to provide and how it is defined.

Privacy and confidentiality

Everyone involved in data collection must understand the sensitivities of collecting gender-disaggregated and intersectional data.

You must maintain the privacy and confidentiality of your employees throughout the process.

Duty holders are responsible for their own compliance with relevant privacy laws, including the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) (PDP Act).

The Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) in Schedule 1 of the PDP Act set out the minimum standards for how Victorian public sector bodies should manage personal information.

For more information on how to maintain your employees’ privacy, please refer to the section on ‘Privacy and confidentiality’ in the Appendix(opens in a new window).