Firm backed workers accepting trophy from residents (9)
I believe the answer is:
occupants
'residents' is the definition.
('occupant' can be a synonym of 'resident')
'firm backed workers accepting trophy' is the wordplay.
'firm' becomes 'co' (a firm is a company).
'backed' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'workers' becomes 'ants' (I've seen this before).
'accepting' is an insertion indicator.
'trophy' becomes 'cup' (cup is a kind of trophy).
'co' back-to-front is 'oc'.
'oc'+'ants'='ocants'
'ocants' enclosing 'cup' is 'OCCUPANTS'.
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for occupants that I've seen before include "people inside?" , "Users" .)