Many an employee is a student (7)
I believe the answer is:
learner
'student' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'many an employee' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'l'.
'an employee' becomes 'earner' (earner is a kind of employee).
'l'+'earner'='LEARNER'
'is a' is the link.
(Other definitions for learner that I've seen before include "Pupil, novice" , "New 17 across" , "Driver under instruction" , "Pupil or apprentice" , "New driver" .)