skeleton crews
Bare-bones workforce
A skeleton crew is the minimum number of people needed to keep an operation running—a ship, factory, office, or other enterprise.
The term implies reduced staffing, often during off-hours, holidays, or emergencies: We're running on a skeleton crew until after New Year's.
The image is of a body stripped to its essential framework.
- staffingProviding personnel for positions
- barebonesReduced to essentials
- bare minimumSmallest acceptable quantity
- reducedMade less in amount
- minimalSmallest amount needed
essential services · manned · core · essentials · downsized · emergency protocols · night shift · contingency planning · on-call workers · ghost ship · running on fumes · basics · personnel · basic operations · disaster response · resource conservation · part-time workers · temporary workers
staffing level
skeleton crewsfully staffed
full strength · overstaffed · all hands on deck · at capacity · overmanned