2018 is officially dead.

With each passing year, new trends in tech pass as well. Today’s tech entrepreneur has to keep up with these things in order to keep morale high at the office or lack thereof.

It can be hard to predict what’s coming next. What will an employee require as the traditional office environment deteriorates along with most of the norms of doing business? It’s impossible to tell but for a promising tech entrepreneur, it should be an exciting experiment.

Let’s try to look ahead and predict some of the tech entrepreneur workplace trends in 2019.

Cubicles Are Over

Something that your average tech entrepreneur might notice in 2019 is that work can happen anywhere. With the increasing emphasis on work-life balance and the desire within people to work remotely, we will see companies attempt to make the office a more welcoming environment.

The cubicle environment of old is dead, and the office will become a place where people convene to iron out kinks. This means big, open spaces housing long tables and a barrier-free environment where people from all departments can connect for a more cohesive atmosphere.

Think the newsroom in “All the President’s Men” but without all the landline noise and cigarette smoke.

Sobering Up

Offering better food and drink options will come to the forefront of tech office culture. Entrepreneurs will see the value of a happy, healthy employee, and that includes in-house workout facilities and programs, as well as healthy snacks. 

Bye, bye beer Friday’s. Sadly, pizza and beer meetings might be a thing of the past, but they will go out in favor of salad bowls and smoothies. Not so bad. 

In the future, expect to see things like afternoon yoga or meditation retreats and workout classes to build morale in the connected world, maybe even work or life-coaching seminars to prevent stagnancy in the office. “Oh hey, that’s Jane from spin class. I didn’t know she was on the dev team.” 

Disconnecting: Work/Life Balance

Now that it’s 2019 and there isn’t really such thing as “disconnecting” anymore. Tech entrepreneurs may attempt to encourage employees to leave their phones at the office to facilitate that work-life balance discussed earlier.

More and more people are never actually leaving their work at work when they go home at night. Their work emails are in their pocket and receive the same notification ping that their mom’s text message does. “Well, I’ve got my phone out, might as well answer this email.”

Through the Looking Glass

Employees are becoming more and more outspoken with resources like Indeed and Glassdoor, where employees can rate their experience at a company for the benefit of those looking for employment.

Tech entrepreneurs will have to be increasingly mindful of their reputation on these websites. If an employee wants a raise and you don’t oblige, you may be looking at a slanderous review online, which could hurt your chances of getting quality employees in the future.

Gig-Economy

Again, with the trend in work-life balance, we might also see the rise of “gig-economy“. Gen-Z workers are coming into the workforce expecting a progressive outlook, and they will be more likely to hire themselves out for specific tasks rather than tie themselves down to a company. 

This “gig-economy” has mutual benefits for the worker and the business. For the employee, they get to work on tasks that they are good at, get paid for the contract, and move on. For the employer, you pay for a completed task and don’t have to cover a worker with benefits.

Have Fun With It, Tech Entrepreneur

It’s time to let go of all the boring office norms of the past and bask in the creative and good-natured future. 

In this case, change shouldn’t be a frightening prospect, but an exciting one. And being at the forefront of office culture change is what will make you a good tech entrepreneur. Visit our blog for more entries on how to become a tech entrepreneur and take your business into the future.