Okuzeka
Business English vocabulary · Working Life

Understaffed

Meaning in business english, with examples

adjectiveCommon term

In business english, understaffed means: Having fewer workers than are needed for the work.

In Turkish: personeli yetersiz

How it is used

Used in capacity discussions. It identifies a staffing shortage rather than automatically blaming employees for slow service.

Example sentences

  1. The reception desk was understaffed after two employees went on leave at the same time.

    Simultaneous absence reduces available staffing below the need.

  2. We postponed the additional opening hours because the service team was already understaffed.

    Extending service would increase demand on insufficient staffing.

Common collocations

  • an understaffed department
  • remain understaffed
  • workloadThe amount of work that a person or a team has to do in a given period of time.
  • overtimeTime worked beyond your normal working hours, or the extra money paid for that time.

More terms: Working Life

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: