The employees get depressed easily (5,4)
'easily' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'the employees get depressed' is the wordplay.
'the employees' becomes 'hands' (hand is a kind of employee).
'get' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'depressed' becomes 'down' (synonyms).
'hands'+'down'='HANDS DOWN'
(Another definition for handsdown that I've seen is " easily".)
'easily' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'the employees get depressed' is the wordplay.
'the employees' becomes 'hands' (hand is a kind of employee).
'get' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'depressed' becomes 'down' (synonyms).
'hands'+'down'='HANDS DOWN'
(Other definitions for hands down that I've seen before include "Teacher's instruction after question's answered" , "Common teaching command" , "Passes to lower place" , "without difficulty" , "Leaves - effortlessly" .)