Support the employees (5)
I believe the answer is:
staff
I believe this is a double definition.
'support' is the first definition.
(thesaurus)
'employees' is the second definition.
(I've seen this in other clues)
'the' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for staff that I've seen before include "Take a rod to the personnel?" , "Personnel or wooden pole" , "Stick of authority" , "teachers employed in school" , "See 11" .)