Model short-term office worker, delayed (8)
I believe the answer is:
template
'model' is the definition.
(template is a kind of model)
'short-term office worker delayed' is the wordplay.
'short-term office worker' becomes 'temp' (I've seen this before).
'delayed' becomes 'late' (I've seen this before).
'temp'+'late'='TEMPLATE'
(Other definitions for template that I've seen before include "Pattern, model" , "Model from which copies are made" , "Preset file or document format" , "Prototype" , "Model, example to follow" .)