The APU are currently undertaking a sector wide Benchmarking exercise for Universities in the UK. So far five universities and two academic-related unions have undertaken the QoWL survey. The benchmarks that will be derived will be used to help the universities compare themselves against the sector average and tell where examples of best practice exist within their organisation. The APU will use the data to further develop their model of Quality of Working Life.

Dr Van Laar, APU Director say that "Although some studies have found that Universities are stressful places to work, we have found that over 70% of University emlployees say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their overall Quality of Working Life. Part of the aim of our research is to determine whether these apparantly contradictory findings can be explained by individual and non-work factors.".