You don’t have to wait for the first phone call to realize that EEO-1 reporting 2025 is not just another HR box that you must tick. The EEO-1 filing requirements are tightening, and the stakes are high for startup founders and small to mid-sized businesses.

EEO-1 reporting captures a wealth of information about the workforce, including job categories, race and ethnicity, and sex. This data is used for federal monitoring of workplace equity.

Compliance helps founders avoid legal issues, protects eligibility for federal contracts, and builds your reputation among investors and talent as a responsible leader.

In this article, we'll discuss everything you need to know, including who must file and the deadlines, among other details.

What Is EEO-1 Reporting?

EEO-1 reporting is an annual filing that is administered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). It requires covered employers to report important EEO-1 workforce demographics (such as race, ethnicity, gender, and job categories) to enable regulation and monitoring of equal employment practices.

This requirement has deep roots in U.S. civil rights law. The EEOC was established in 1965 to enforce these protections following Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin illegal.

By 1966, the agency formalized the EEO-1 data collection to evaluate workforce composition nationwide and ensure equitable hiring and employment practices. This has allowed the EEOC to enforce compliance and address systemic biases across industries.

Data Collected

Every covered employer must report aggregated counts of all full-time and part-time employees during a payroll snapshot taken in the final quarter (October to December).

The data must include demographic breakdowns across:

• Race and Ethnicity: Categories include White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races.
• Gender: The report currently accepts binary reporting; male and female only. The EEOC has removed optional non-binary categories for 2024 filings, though voluntary disclosure in comment fields remains possible under limited guidance.
• Job Categories: Employees are grouped into broad occupational classes (executive/senior officials and managers; professionals; sales workers; craft workers; laborers and helpers; etc.).

The collected data gives employers and the EEOC an overview of workforce composition, thereby helping them to know areas where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts may need reinforcement.

For organizations led by founders or rapidly growing teams, this data can inform targeted hiring strategies, create defensible diversity narratives to investors, and establish a culture of inclusion from the top down.

Who Must File an EEO-1 Report in 2025?

Mandatory Filers

Private Employers with 100 or More Employees

All private-sector employers subject to Title VII must file an EEO-1 Component 1 report if they had 100 or more employees during a single pay period in the fourth quarter (October to December) of the reporting year. That includes full-time and part-time workers, as well as remote staff.

Federal Contractors and First-Tier Subcontractors

Federal contractors with 50 or more employees and a federal contract or subcontract worth $50,000 or more are also required to file, even if they have fewer than 100 employees.

Despite the rescission of Executive Order 11246, the EEOC continues to require filings from these contractors for the 2024/2025 cycle, so the obligation remains active.

Affiliated or Controlled Entities

Smaller employers with fewer than 100 employees still need to file if they are part of an enterprise (via common ownership or centralized control) that totals 100 or more employees. In such cases, a single enterprise report must be filed.

Clarifications for Startups, SMBs, and Distributed Teams

Startups and SMBs under 100 employees are exempt unless they are part of a larger parent company or corporate structure that reaches or exceeds the 100-employee threshold.

Remote and distributed teams must still be included, but categorized under the relevant establishment to which each employee “reports.” The EEOC instructs that remote workers be assigned to the establishment of their manager or their most logical reporting site.

Multi-Establishment Employers

Multi-establishment organizations must file three reports:

• Headquarters Report: Covering corporate or central administrative employees.
• Establishment-Level Reports: One per physical location or “establishment.”
• Consolidated Report: Automatically generated by the EEOC system by aggregating data from HQ and each establishment-level report.

This system ensures detailed data visibility and enterprise-level accountability.

Here’s a summary of who must file an EEO-1 report:

EEO-1 Reporting Deadlines for 2025

The EEOC officially opened its 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection for 2025 on May 20, 2025 (using data covering the prior year), as communicated by multiple reliable sources. This marked the beginning of the filing window for employers who meet reporting thresholds.

When the Online Portal Opens

The EEOC’s online portal, known as the EEO-1 Component 1 Online Filing System, became accessible starting May 20, 2025.

This portal is the only channel for submitting EEO-1 reports, and communications (including notifications and guidance) are sent electronically this year; postal communications have been discontinued.

Final Filing Deadline and Late Submission Consequences

All eligible employers must submit their EEO-1 reports by 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. The EEOC has highlighted that this is a firm, non-extendable deadline; there will be no grace period this year.

Failure to meet this deadline results in non-compliance. No late submissions will be accepted under any circumstances, making this a hard stop.

Missing the EEO-1 deadline carries serious consequences. For federal contractors, non-compliance can jeopardize eligibility for new contracts and may trigger audit flags. The EEO-1 is an important compliance requirement tied to federal procurement eligibility.

In compliance audits, late or missing reports may prompt deeper scrutiny by EEOC or OFCCP, especially if your organization is subject to beyond-the-status-quo reporting or regularly audited regimes.

Step-by-Step Guide to Filing the EEO-1 Report

Here’s a practical walkthrough of the EEO-1 reporting process, from confirming eligibility to download your confirmation. It reflects the latest EEOC instructions and tech requirements so you can file once, file cleanly, and avoid last-minute issues.

Confirm Eligibility

You must file an EEO-1 Component 1 report if you are a private employer with 100+ employees, or a federal contractor/subcontractor with 50+ employees and a qualifying federal contract of $50,000+ (including purchase orders/subcontracts).

Count all full-time and part-time employees on the workforce snapshot pay period of your choosing in Q4 (unless EEOC specifies otherwise for the cycle). Multi-entity groups should evaluate whether the parent/holding company is a multi-establishment employer.

If you’re near the threshold, document your headcount methodology and snapshot date in case of later inquiry.

Gather Employee Data

Collect demographic data for each employee by race/ethnicity and sex across the EEOC’s ten job categories (e.g., Executive/Senior Officials, Professionals, Sales Workers, Administrative Support, etc.).

Use EEOC’s definitions to standardize and avoid miscoding; align your HRIS and onboarding forms with those definitions to ensure data integrity.

Map your HRIS job titles to EEO-1 job categories. Validate every employee has one, and only one, race/ethnicity, and sex value per EEOC definitions. Lock the workforce snapshot date and export exactly that population.

Prepare Your Organizational Structure

As stated earlier, if you operate multiple locations, you’ll submit:

• A Headquarters Report (for the corporate HQ),
• An Establishment-Level Report for each location with at least 50 employees and a simplified version for those with fewer than 50,
• A system-generated Consolidated Report that rolls everything up. Ensure every employee is assigned to one establishment; remote workers should be counted at the establishment to which they report (or HQ if the employee and manager are remote).

Access the EEOC Filing Portal

File via the EEO-1 Component 1 Online Filing System (OFS). Create or recover your account, enable MFA if offered, and verify your company profile before uploading data. Bookmark the official portal and avoid look-alikes; the EEOC posts cycle status (open/closed) and official notices there.

The OFS encrypts company data in transit; still, it restricts portal access to a limited set of trained users and rotates credentials after the filing window.

Input and Verify Data

You can enter data manually or upload a data file that matches EEOC’s CSV/XML specifications. Most founders prefer exporting from HR/payroll (e.g., ADP, Gusto, BambooHR) into the EEOC format, then validating.

Download the latest Data File Upload Specifications for each cycle and spot-check the required headers, code lists, and record layouts.

Pre-upload validation:

• Confirm establishment IDs are unique and consistent.
• Ensure totals in each establishment roll up to HQ and match the Consolidated Report once generated.
• Reconcile counts by sex and race/ethnicity against your HRIS snapshot export.

Submit and Confirm Receipt

After you certify each report, the OFS provides a submission confirmation (and a way to download or print it).

Save the confirmation, the certified reports, your data extract, and your validation logs to your compliance repository; they’re essential for audit trails, RFPs, and due diligence.

If you miss a deadline, the EEOC can seek a court order compelling filing; do not submit false information; penalties include fines and possible imprisonment for willful false statements.

Compliance Risks, Penalties, and Legal Implications

Failing to file the EEO-1 Report or submitting inaccurate data poses significant compliance, legal, and strategic risks. Founders and startup leaders must understand the consequences to enhance preparedness and mitigate potential fallout.

What Happens if Founders Fail to File

Though the EEOC doesn’t impose direct financial fines for missing the EEO-1 Component 1 deadline, failure to file puts your company out of compliance. In such cases, the EEOC can seek a court order compelling compliance, and a judge may hold your organization in contempt if you fail to comply with that order.

Moreover, the EEOC now enforces a hard deadline; for 2025, it's June 24 by 11:00 pm ET, with no grace period or failure-to-file warning letters. Missing it equates to official non-compliance status.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Legal Exposure

If your EEO-1 filing includes willfully false information, it becomes a criminal matter: penalties can include fines, imprisonment for up to five years, or both. This signifies the importance of honesty and accuracy in all reporting.

Contract Risks and Audits

For businesses that are federal contractors, non-filing or filing errors can derail contracts. These organizations may be removed from future contracting opportunities, face contract termination, or be selected for more aggressive OFCCP audits.

How the EEOC Uses EEO-1 Data in Investigations

If an employee files a charge, investigators usually review your EEO-1 submissions. A missing or incomplete report can affect credibility, even if the underlying complaint is unsubstantiated.

Insufficient reporting may lead to conciliation processes, additional compliance mandates, or more intensive scrutiny, not necessarily with financial costs, but with reputational and strategic damage.

Risks for Startups Seeking Government Contracts or VC Funding

Startups often seek credibility and growth capital via federal contracts or VC investment. Non-compliance with EEO-1 obligations can sabotage both:

• Government contracts: Eligibility may be revoked, or your startup could be deemed a higher risk during audits.
• Venture capital trust: VCs evaluate not just business viability, but also regulatory compliance and risk management. Being tagged as non-compliant signals weak governance, potentially jeopardizing funding.

EEO-1 Reporting and DEI Strategy for Startups

How Compliance Reporting Supports DEI Initiatives

EEO-1 reporting is the basis for a meaningful DEI strategy for startups committed to building an inclusive culture.

By requiring employers to disclose workforce demographic data, broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, and job category, the EEO-1 framework brings clarity to organizational composition and reveals hidden gaps.

This transparency pushes founders to confront diversity shortfalls directly rather than avoid them. Moreover, it ensures legal compliance while reinforcing ethical business practices, separating compliance metrics from voluntary DEI goals.

Using EEO-1 Data to Improve Hiring, Retention, and Workplace Culture

Startup leaders can harness EEO-1 data as a diagnostic and strategic tool. At the most basic level, it helps track representation at different seniority levels, from entry-level staff to leadership, highlighting where interventions are most needed.

Research has consistently shown a performance link between diversity and financial outcomes. For instance, companies that voluntarily disclose EEO-1 data often outperform peers, delivering up to 7.9% higher returns over a year.

In addition, organizations with more diverse leadership not only tend to drive innovation but also report stronger profitability and improved cash flow.

You can identify bias or roadblocks in talent development pipelines by mapping EEO-1 patterns to retention and promotion rates. Prioritizing underrepresented groups through mentorship, sponsorship, or intentional recruitment builds equity and nurtures a culture of belonging.

Turning Compliance into an Advantage with Investors and Employees

Transparency around workplace diversity sends a strong signal to external and internal stakeholders.

Harvard Business School researchers found that simply disclosing demographic data, even if the diversity gap isn't yet closed, boosts brand trust and signals a genuine commitment to change.

Investors, notably those focused on ESG and stakeholder accountability, respond with increased confidence, thereby supporting proposals that emphasize diversity and transparency.

For employees, especially prospective hires, younger, mission-driven talent increasingly views inclusivity as table stakes. Showing progress, rather than perfection, demonstrates integrity and fosters employer loyalty.

Simplify EEO-1 Filing and Keep Your Startup Audit-Ready

Staying compliant with EEO-1 reporting is not all about avoiding penalties; it’s also about building credibility with investors, employees, and regulators. But for startups with lean HR teams, gathering workforce demographics and categorizing remote employees can become overwhelming.

As a modern HR and compliance partner, Chore helps startups streamline reporting by centralizing employee data, automating demographic categorization, and ensuring every remote or multi-establishment worker is correctly assigned.

Instead of scrambling through payroll exports or worrying about technical upload errors in the EEOC portal, founders can rely on Chore’s compliance-first platform to prepare accurate submissions, thereby freeing up time to focus on growth and talent strategy.

By maximizing Chore’s tailored support, startups not only meet their EEOC filing obligations but also strengthen their DEI strategies, thus turning compliance into a competitive advantage in attracting contracts, capital, and top talent.

Don’t let compliance slow your growth. Partner with Chore to simplify EEO-1 reporting and keep your startup audit-ready.

FAQs

What is the EEO-1 report, and why is it required?

The EEO-1 report is an annual compliance survey required by the EEOC that collects data on employees’ race, ethnicity, sex, and job categories. It must be filed by:

• Private employers with 100+ employees
• Federal contractors with 50+ employees and contracts worth $50,000 or more

It is required to:

• Ensure compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws
• Help the government monitor workplace diversity and equal opportunity
• Keep federal contractors eligible for government work
• Provide companies with data for DEI benchmarking

How do startups with fewer than 100 employees handle EEO-1 reporting?

Startups with fewer than 100 employees generally don’t need to file an EEO-1 report, unless they are federal contractors with 50+ employees and contracts worth $50,000 or more. While exempt, it’s smart for growing startups to track workforce demographics for future compliance, DEI initiatives, and investor transparency.

What data must be collected for EEO-1 compliance?

Employers must collect the following for EEO-1 compliance:

• Employee headcount during a chosen pay period (October to December).
• Demographics; race/ethnicity (7 EEOC categories) and gender (male/female; self-identification preferred).
• Job categories; 10 EEOC-defined groups (executives, professionals, technicians, etc.).
• Employment location; headquarters and establishments (remote staff reported under supervising location).