Raleigh-Durham, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Avaya (NYSE: AVYA), a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, today released the results of a new survey, “Life and Work Beyond 2020: The Change Makers,” examining how attitudes and feelings toward home and work life have changed over the last year. The Avaya survey uncovers a significant happiness gap, with only 27% of respondents saying they were happier in 2020 and 43% saying they were less happy. The survey also reveals that organizations have the power to increase well-being, with 56% saying hybrid work has the potential to improve their well-being and 79% saying that when engaging with an organization’s contact center, they expect agents to do everything possible to make them happy.

Digital transformation and the pandemic have created lasting change in how we want to work and shop. As workers, we want a hybrid work environment that offers more choice and eliminates an inflexible daily grind. As consumers, we want to interact with businesses through the channels we prefer, and we expect in-the-moment responsiveness to address our unique needs. Businesses that want to meet these changing dynamics require composable solutions that let them build the ideal communications and collaboration environment for managing distributed teams and empowering these teams to delight customers.

“Avaya’s ‘Life and Work Beyond 2020’ survey presents a compelling case that organizations today play a critical role in our well-being, both as employers and service providers,” said Simon Harrison, Chief Marketing Officer, Avaya. “The question is, how can businesses enable hybrid work while ensuring employees have the tools they need to consistently delight customers? Avaya OneCloud is a composable communication and collaboration platform that enables businesses to bridge employee and customer experiences, with fluid, seamless engagement no matter where employees are working while empowering them to quickly create and deliver memorable experiences in the moment.”

Key Takeaways from Avaya’s “Life and Work Beyond 2020” Survey

Our sources of happiness are changing – and many are less happy

According to the survey, the unsurprising top sources of decreased happiness in 2020 include the COVID-19 pandemic (82%), less face-to-face contact with others (68%) and money worries (64%). However, among the 27% of respondents whose happiness increased, the top reasons included some surprises, including flexibility in deciding where to work (62%) and more work from home & bosses trusting workers (57%).

Work needs flexibility

The desire for more work flexibility is underscored by the fact that across all respondents, 46% feel trapped in a daily routine and 43% are struggling to find the right work-life balance. Further, 56% think that hybrid work will have the potential to improve their well-being, and 60% would support government policies that embrace hybrid working.

Changed values are reshaping how we shop

Honesty, respect and optimism are now top values, and 69% of respondents say they actively (33%) or sometimes (36%) choose organizations, including banks, retailers, utilities, healthcare providers, and telecom providers, that reflect their values. More than 1 out of 2 prefer a mix of ways to contact organizations, including a phone number on every webpage or app (69%) and more help available on websites (57%). Nearly half of respondents (47%) say convenience is more important than price.

Organizations have a big impact on our well-being

The impact of organizations on well-being is huge, with 71% of respondents saying customer service problems cause them a great deal (28%) or a considerable amount (43%) of stress. A full 79% expect organization contact centers to do everything possible to make them a happy customer, but only 13% say organizations always make them feel good after an interaction and only 8% say they are regularly delighted by their interactions.

The survey, conducted in November 2020, is based on interviews with 10,000 consumers and workers in a variety of markets around the world, including Austria, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the U.S.

Additional Resources

Learn how Avaya OneCloud solutions can make an impact in your organization.
Check out the full Life and Work Beyond 2020: The Change Makers report.
See the infographic, How our values, relationships with businesses and working lives are changing.