Four Generations of Editors: Overcoming Generational Differences in the Workplace

By HEIDI GLICK

I have more than four years of technical editing experience, and during that time, I have collaborated with two other editors: one younger than me and one older than me. With four generations of employees in the workforce, I am not the only editor who is working in a multi-generational workplace.

The four generations in the workplace include the “Traditional Generation,” the “Baby Boomer Generation,” “Generation X,” and “Generation Y.” While definitions of the generations vary, the demographics generally fall out as follows:

the Traditional Generation includes editors currently aged 67 and older
the Baby Boomer Generation includes editors currently aged 50–66
Generation X includes editors currently aged 29–49
Generation Y includes editors currently aged 20–28

Not every editor, though, has had the same experience. If someone from the Traditional Generation began his editing career recently, his experience would be different from someone of the same generation who began editing decades ago. Therefore, rigid generalizations based solely on age may, in some cases, prove to be inaccurate.

Overview of Generational Characteristics

The following is a general description of the four generations listed above and their experiences at the start of their technical communication careers, assuming that they edited from the onset of their careers (this, of course, varies depending on factors such as how much access they have had to technology and other resources).

Traditional Generation. At the onset of their careers, these professionals mainly edited for a local audience, communicated via regular mail and telephone, worked with hard-copy deliverables, used a typewriter, and consulted hard-copy resources (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, and available style/grammar guides).
Baby Boomer Generation. These professionals started out editing for local and some national audiences; communicated via regular mail, telephone, and fax; worked with hard-copy deliverables; and consulted hard-copy resources.
Generation X. When these professionals started out, they edited for local, national, and some global audiences; communicated via regular mail, telephone, fax, email, and cell phone; worked mainly with hard-copy but also some electronic deliverables; primarily used word processing programs but also some desktop publishing programs; and consulted hard-copy and electronic resources.
Generation Y. These professionals edited for local, national, and/or global audiences; communicated via regular mail (less often), telephone, fax, email, cell phone (including text messages), instant messaging, and social networks; worked mainly with electronic deliverables (in a variety of formats, including PDFs, web pages, and so forth); used word-processing programs and several desktop-publishing programs; and consulted hard-copy and electronic resources.

With four generations of editors in the workplace, there are bound to be some differences of opinion. I’ll examine potential sources of disagreements and miscommunication among the four generations of editors and offer recommendations on how to overcome generational differences. Specifically, I’ll look at how editors from different generations may disagree or not communicate clearly, about the following matters:

Audience
Timing
End format
Preparation
Style

Audience

Editors from different generations may disagree over how to prepare a deliverable to best meet the needs of their audience. Audiences have certainly changed over the generations. In fact, one of the themes in my advanced editing class was how digital media has affected society and, more specifically, how it has affected the editing process. Before digital media, editors mailed hard-copy reports; due to time constraints, businesses would most likely hire local editors/writers, whereas now editors can email files to anyone with Internet access. Spend any amount of time on freelance bidding sites such as Elance and oDesk, and you will quickly learn that authors in the United States may hire an editor who lives in India, England, or Spain as easily as they might hire someone locally.

If someone began his or her career as a Traditional Generation editor, most of his or her clients were probably local, spoke the same language, and came from a similar background. They may not have had to give much thought to cultural differences when they edited. Contrast that with the present, when an editor’s audience is literally across the sea, may speak a different language, and may come from a vastly different culture. Technical professionals no longer edit solely for local clients, they edit for clients across the globe. If editors do not consider their audience, they might send out a report with a cover that is in a color or has a symbol that is offensive to their client’s culture, or they may leave comments that are unclear to nonnative speakers.

Traditional, Baby Boomer, and even Generation X editors have likely edited deliverables intended only for English-speaking audiences. However, editors increasingly review deliverables that will be translated into other languages. If you are not familiar with the translation process, you may not prepare the text properly. Later on, during the translation stage, more changes may have to be made, at a greater cost to your employer or client. In contrast, Generation Y editors may have studied Global English more than the preceding generations, but they spend extra time implementing this style and forget to consider that not every deliverable they produce will be translated.

Timing

Editors sometimes disagree over how long it takes to complete a project, in part because of their historical view of the editing process. When I worked with a Baby Boomer editor, she showed me old reports that my company had produced years ago—reports that were hand-typed with photos that were taped to paper and copied.

Additionally, more deliverables were mailed via snail mail, causing the process to move slower because it took longer to produce deliverables. With the advent of digital media, clients could ask for a report to be edited and emailed to them in a short amount of time (even within 24 hours). Traditional and Baby Boomer Generation editors could find it hard to adjust to this faster pace. Conversely, Generation X and Y editors may find it hard to slow down and edit thoroughly enough—overlooking or even introducing errors as a result.

End Format

Editors may disagree over the format of deliverables. Traditional and Baby Boomer Generation editors generally feel more comfortable creating hard-copy deliverables while Generation X and Y editors might feel equally at ease producing electronic deliverables. In the past, editors produced hard-copy documents; now they often create deliverables in a wide variety of formats including CD, DVD, hard-copy, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Microsoft Word file, Microsoft Excel file, web pages, and so forth.

Preparation

Generational differences can influence the preparation of deliverables, with editors disagreeing over which method to use for revising text. When I worked with a Baby Boomer, I edited hard copy using traditional editing marks. When I took an editing position at a different establishment and worked with a Generation Y editor, I was asked to edit only electronically.

A Generation Y editor may prefer to make revisions electronically, but his or her clients may prefer to see markup on hard copy. Traditional and Baby Boomer Generation editors are sometimes not as familiar with newer software programs as their Generation X and Y counterparts and, for this reason, they may feel apprehensive about using newer programs.

Editing is a collaborative process, with editors from different generations communicating by a variety of methods. Traditional and Baby Boomer Generation editors may prefer to communicate over the phone or in person, while Generation X and Y editors often opt for seemingly more impersonal methods, such as email and instant messaging. An editor from one generation could easily misinterpret the tone of an email or instant message with no body language with which to gauge the feel of the conversation.

Style

Editors will disagree over matters of style (although this, some may argue, has more to do with the nature of the profession than with generational differences). For example, usage of the serial comma varies according to style preferences. Everyone has preferences, and it is hard for editors of all ages to adjust to a style that is different from their preferred style.

Additionally, style changes over time, and some stylistic conventions become outdated. Editors from the Traditional and Baby Boomer Generations may adhere to a certain convention because of industry standards or historical consistency, both of which editors from Generations X and Y may be unaware. Further, editors from Generations X and Y may prefer the style they used in their college classes. These disagreements can cost companies time and money if not resolved expeditiously.

Recommendations

Editors always need to learn more about their target audience. If your clients live in another country, you need to conduct some research to find out the meaning of color choices and symbols in that culture (to name just two examples) to ensure that you do not produce a deliverable that might offend a client. If you edit a deliverable that will be translated, consider reading a resource such as The Global English Style Guide.

If hard copy is the end format of a deliverable, it is useful for an editor to review the final version of a deliverable in the same format. Whatever the case, both groups need to adjust to changes in schedule and communicate timelines clearly. Perhaps Traditional and Baby Boomer Generation editors may allow Generation X and Y editors to move through tasks that might have taken them longer to complete. For quality purposes, a Traditional or Baby Boomer Generation editor may proofread the work of Generation X and Y editors, which is helpful for mentoring and training potentially greener, less experienced editors.

No matter what generation you belong to, you need to be willing to work in different formats. This means that Traditional and Baby Boomer Generation editors need to become more proficient in working with newer electronic formats. Generation X and Y editors may need to learn to work with hard copy and accept that some clients may always prefer this format. As Traditional and Baby Boomer Generation editors help their younger counterparts develop and refine general editing skills, the latter often help their older colleagues learn how to use the latest software. However the dynamic develops, everyone involved needs to see it as an opportunity to collaborate and grow, not as job-threatening competition.

Editors need to keep up with advances in digital media as they relate to the editing process. For example, an editor should consider making the switch, as other editors have, from hard copy to electronic copy. If you are a lone editor at a firm that edits hard copy, take solace in the fact that there are other ways to learn to make revisions on-screen. One resource is Effective Onscreen Editing (available in electronic format and hard copy). Another resource is the Microsoft website, which provides information and tutorials on using Microsoft Word’s Track Changes functionality. Additionally, Adobe offers on-screen editing tools for several of their products.

We all need to stay current in our field. If an employer offers tuition reimbursement opportunities, take advantage of them. Many universities offer online classes as well as classroom-based courses on weekends and evenings. For example, Cengage Learning’s Education To Go site (also known as “ed2go,” www.ed2go.com) offers a variety of online courses at reasonable prices. All of these learning options can be found in a college’s course catalog or in its online course schedules.

Traditional and Baby Boomer Generation editors may need to learn more about electronic communication methods such as instant messaging, while Generation X and Y editors may benefit from calling an author once in a while as opposed to emailing them (particularly if the author is from one of the earlier generations). Increased interpersonal interaction can help prevent possible miscommunication, develop skills in negotiation, foster collaboration, and develop a host of other soft skills that are the foundations of good project and staff management.

Although methods of communication and delivery have changed over the decades, there is more commonality than difference in editors’ work experiences—struggles with difficult writers, thrifty managers, compressed project schedules, and demanding clients are not unique to any one generation. Editors from different generations learn from one another by sharing their experiences. Editors can break the ice with one another by reading about the history of editing and discussing how the field has evolved; for example, consider reading the article, “Learned Correctors as Technical Editors: Specialization and Collaboration in Early Modern European Printing Houses.” You will quickly find that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

When editors disagree on matters of style, it is helpful to identify the reasoning behind the use of a particular style. To better understand one another, editors should read about how grammar rules and media have changed over time and consider reviewing different guides periodically. Editors of all generations may need to let go of some of their outdated style conventions, such as the use of two spaces between sentences, which is a relic of the typewriter. Additionally, if you have an outdated house style guide, consider updating it and inviting feedback from your colleagues.

Generational differences will always spark dissenting opinions and some miscommunication, but the key to preventing these differences from overrunning the workplace is for employees to view them as gifts, not as competitive conflicts. In doing so, members of all generations can help to enrich each other’s work experiences, strengthen and refine skills, and learn soft skills that are nearly impossible to teach (or learn) in classroom environments. The result will not only be savvier professionals, but content that also addresses the needs of its audience to the highest achievable standard.

Heidi Glick (glick.heidi@gmail.com) is a technical editor/writer at ECFlex, Inc., a government contractor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She obtained her BA in biological science from Cedarville University and her technical writing certificate from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She is pursuing her MS in English from Utah State University.