Scoff at short piece about employees (5)
I believe the answer is:
staff
'employees' is the definition.
(I've seen this in other clues)
'scoff at short piece about' is the wordplay.
'piece' indicates a hidden word.
'about' says the letters should be written backwards.
'ffats' can be found hidden inside 'scoff at short'.
'ffats' reversed gives 'STAFF'.
(Other definitions for staff that I've seen before include "Take a rod to the personnel?" , "Rod; workers" , "Employees; sign of office" , "teachers possibly used" , "Group of employees and long stick for support" .)