Behind us, trying to embrace hard work (8)
I believe the answer is:
industry
'hard work' is the definition.
(being industrious)
'behind us trying to embrace' is the wordplay.
'to embrace' indicates the answer is hidden within the clue (the answer is embraced by part of the clue).
'INDUSTRY' can be found hidden inside 'behind us trying'.
(Other definitions for industry that I've seen before include "Craft" , "Hard work" , "Commerce" , "Business" , "Manufacturing enterprises" .)