Curt with absent employee (7)
I believe the answer is:
offhand
'curt' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'with absent employee' is the wordplay.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'absent' becomes 'off' (I've seen this in other clues).
'employee' becomes 'hand' (hand is a kind of employee).
'off' put next to 'hand' is 'OFFHAND'.
(Other definitions for offhand that I've seen before include "Rudely casual; impromptu" , "Dismissive; curt" , "Ad lib" , "Casually rude" , "Brusque" .)