How our jobs have changed

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, April 1, 1998 by Barbara Love

Consultant Daniel McNamee, president of New York City-based The Publishing and Media Group, a management consultancy, says we've made great gains by adding computers, but publishing companies in their basic activities and organizational structures and processes look like they did 20 years ago and even 50 years ago. McNamee contends that what's needed now is "process redesign."

"Many jobs have changed in last five to 20 years," says McNamee. "That's nothing compared to the way they will change in the next 10 years."

Downsized, no; shifts, yes

People interviewed by Folio: are not willing to say that magazine publishing companies have downsized, although individual departments (notably circulation, finance, human resources and art) may be. In fact, the feeling is that there are probably more people in companies today because (1) business has improved since 1993, (2) there's more emphasis on growth than cost-cutting, (3) new media and brand extensions require new people with different skills, and (4) mergers and acquisitions have added staff company-wide.

"Someone would have to prove to me that there has been downsizing," says deGraffenreid. "I don't believe it."

People agree there is less support staff, such as secretaries. Managers now do their own spreadsheets and send their own e-mails, freeing up support people to handle projects and more sophisticated functions. Secretaries are now more often called administrative assistants. "The title `secretary' doesn't do them justice," says Rice. "What these people do today is extremely challenging."

Folio: hears that work is actually flowing up the organization as managers without enough staff or secretarial help have to fill experience and organizational gaps. "If you want to get the job done, you have to be very, very resourceful," one vice president says.

At many companies, research directors who were let go at the beginning of this decade have not been replaced. The American Business Press, seeking research directors among its members, found only five among 965 audited publications. The research function stays, but it is the responsibility of someone with a sales or marketing title.

Other jobs that are less commonplace today are "editorial director" and "vice president, production."

New jobs that have surfaced in the last five years are "Webmaster" and "brand development manager."

In some instances, freelancers are used to fill jobs in favor of staffers. "I think if we did a comparison of numbers of employees in the past five years, we wouldn't see a decrease in jobs, but a shift," says Dianne Hennessy, vice president of human resources at Cowles Business Media. "Where we used to have five editors or writers on a magazine, you would see three or four, with the rest of the work outsourced to freelancers or part-time employees."

Outsourcing for editorial and other areas has become more of an option over the past five years. One of the newer areas for outsourcing consideration is circulation, according to Klingel.

There are many working culture changes: Information is flowing down from management to middle management, cross-functional teams have given people new opportunities to learn new skills, and people lower down in the organization have been empowered.