Later in the sixties, working happily for another employer, I had a
small but sufficient office to myself. The furniture was old, and my file
cabinet was far down the hall, but other editors were near by for conferences
and “reading back” galley proofs. I even had a window providing the natural
light editors need. That office was
fine.
By the seventies, the cubicle had arrived. Mine featured
all-metal furniture designed to keep me from moving and wasting any time.
Files, an electric typewriter, and other equipment were compressed into a tiny
claustrophobic space. A thin metal partition
separated my cubicle from another editor’s. As everything I needed for editing
was in the cubicle, my only excuse for leaving was to visit the restroom, which
luckily was far down the hall. Drinking a lot of water provided that excuse. After
a few years in cubicles, most of us gained weight (what was then called
“secretarial spread”) and were miserable. Recently I have heard with horror of
“toilet cubicles” that can be inserted in cubicle-based offices. I don't even want to think about it.
Since around 1990, office workers have seen some
long-overdue changes in their workplaces. Computers have made many changes
possible. Telecommuting has become popular at companies where workers must
drive long distances to the office. Some workers have been able to work at
home, using email and other methods of communicating with fellow workers and
clients. This has been an especially welcome change for those who have children
or elderly parents to care for.
A home office can be essential for some. After my husband had
a heart attack and my mother moved to California, I set up a very comfortable
home office so that I could be a caregiver as well as a writer and editor. It
was successful in many ways, but I missed the contact with others (even that
spooky secretary who looked like Morticia Addams and who glided in silently
once a day to drop some galleys on my desk). I no longer had easy access to
training programs, just when computers began dominating the publishing world
(and that’s another story). Essential as a home office was for us, not being
visible in a physical office ended my original in-house career. I was able to
set up my own small business, The Stone Cottage editorial service. From then
on, I was self-employed and did more writing than editing.
Those who continued working in more traditional offices also
have seen changes. The open office plans in many companies are planned to
encourage collaboration and sharing ideas more than individual thinking and
introspection. Some Silicon Valley offices have become so luxurious that workers
(especially young single males) have few reasons to go home. I’ve heard of some
who sleep in their offices, hit the gym and shower in the morning, then go back
to work.
Currently the pandemic has changed the workplace for nearly
everyone. Some are forced to work at home, whether they want to or not. They
may have to use Zoom for meetings, Skype for one-to-one conferences. Many are
discovering the advantages of having a home office and may never voluntarily go
back to working in a traditional office. Others are too constricted by the arrangement.
It’s impossible to predict now what offices of the future
will be like, but certainly they won’t be like those of the past or present. If
I were a young, single textbook editor now, with the power to design my own workplace,
I’d choose to work in a home office two or three days a week, where I could
concentrate without interruption. During the rest of the week I’d go to the
publisher’s main office, where I could meet with authors, confer with other
editors, and work with artists. Perhaps I could share office space there with
an editor having another schedule, and our office would have two coat hooks. Hopefully
the glass partitions, masks, and other protective equipment needed now will
soon be unnecessary.
Copyright © May 28, 2020
by Carol Leth Stone (a.k.a. RovinCrone)
