skeleton crew
Bare-bones workforce
A skeleton crew is the minimum number of people needed to keep an operation running.
The phrase comes from nautical use—the fewest sailors required to handle a ship—but now applies to any workplace operating with reduced staff: The office runs on a skeleton crew during the holidays.
The implication is bare-bones functionality, not optimal performance.
- minimumSmallest possible quantity
- bare minimumSmallest acceptable quantity
- short-staffedInsufficient personnel available
- undermannedInsufficient personnel available
- automateMake self-operating
ghost ship · shorthanded · shift · silence · bare-bones · essential · overworked · running on fumes · multitaskers · crewmember · flying solo · contingency planning · fatigue · emergency response · basic · resource allocation · spooky · austerity measures
- Halloweenjack-o-lantern, trick or treating, haunted mansion, pumpkin, trick-or-treat
- crews
- body idiomsheart of gold, heart of stone, cold heart, warm heart, soft heart
- night workersnight owls, night watchman, night auditor, security guards, night shift
- death idiomsdead end, dead serious, dead wrong, dead tired, dead weight
- staffingstaffing, turnover rates, hiring, staffing firm, staffing agency
staffing level
skeleton crewfully staffed
overstaffed · full house · all hands on deck · skeleton staff