Workforce Experiences of a Rapidly Established SARS-CoV-2 Asymptomatic Testing Service in a Higher Education Setting: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore workforce experiences of the rapid implementation of a SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic testing service (ATS) in a higher education setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The setting was a multi-campus university in the UK, which hosted a testing service for employees and students over two years. Qualitative semi-structured videoconference interviews were conducted. We contacted 58 participants and 25 were interviewed (43% response rate). Data were analysed thematically. The analysis produced four overarching themes: (1) feelings relating to their involvement in the service, (2) perceptions of teamwork, (3) perceptions of ATS leadership, (4) valuing the opportunity for career development. Agile and inclusive leadership style created psychological safety and team cohesion, which facilitated participants in the implementation of a rapid mitigation service, at pace and scale. Specific features of the ATS (shared vision, collaboration, networking, skills acquisition) instilled self-confidence, value and belonging, meaningfully impacting on professional development and career opportunities. This is the first qualitative study to explore the experiences of university employees engaged in the rapid deployment of a service as part of a pandemic outbreak and mitigation strategy within a higher education setting. Despite pressures and challenges of the task, professional growth and advancement were universal. This has implications for workforce engagement and creating workplaces across the sector that are well-prepared to respond to future pandemics and other disruptive events.

A Qualitative Evaluation of the Barriers and Enablers for Implementation of an Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Testing Service at the University of Nottingham: A Multi-Site Higher Education Setting in England

“…Within the ATS, transformational leadership (e.g., influencing, transforming, and inspiring others), a distributed leadership style (e.g., where teams share responsibility and work towards a common goal) and proactive individual and team behaviour facilitated the implementation of the service. The impact of university investment in employee development through the ATS is evident in our data and interrogated elsewhere [ 49 ].…”

The Impact of Academic Justice Climate on Employability: What Role Does Psychological Security and Psychological Resilience Play?

“…Psychological security refers to employees' positive perceptions and judgments that the environment they are in is safe enough (Edmondson, 1999), all of which are footstone steading well-performing individual/teams (Hackman & Hackman, 2002;Blake et al, 2022;Greenbaum et al, 2020). Research has shown that employees who feel psychologically safe are better equipped to handle challenging job demands and this psychological environment has a significant positive impact on their job skills and employability (Plomp, Tims, Khapova, Jansen, & Bakker, 2019).…”