Many employees are students (8)
I believe the answer is:
learners
'are students' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'many employees' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'l'.
'employees' becomes 'earners' (earner is a kind of employee).
'l'+'earners'='LEARNERS'
(Other definitions for learners that I've seen before include "Trainees" , "Students, apprentices" , "Pupils" , "In cars, they must display L-plates" .)