Desk jockeys were inside and treated like pieces of meat (8)
I believe the answer is:
skewered
'treated like pieces of meat' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'desk jockeys were inside' is the wordplay.
'jockeys' indicates anagramming the letters.
'inside' indicates putting letters inside.
'desk' anagrammed gives 'sked'.
'sked' enclosing 'were' is 'SKEWERED'.
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for skewered that I've seen before include "got ready for barbecue?" , "Transfixed" , "Pierced with metal pin" , "Run through" , "Pierced through with meat pin" .)