Chinese word

人浮于事

Pronunciation

Pinyinrén fú yú shì

Meaning

  • idiomoverstaffed

Example

这家公司现在人浮于事，很多人没事做。zhè jiā gōng sī xiàn zài rén fú yú shì hěn duō rén méi shì zuò

This company is overstaffed now, and many people have nothing to do.

Illustration for 人浮于事 (overstaffed)

More examples

讨论会上大家说团队里有时会人浮于事，需要调整任务分配。tǎo lùn huì shàng dà jiā shuō tuán duì lǐ yǒu shí huì rén fú yú shì xū yào tiáo zhěng rèn wù fēn pèi

At the discussion, everyone said that the team is sometimes overstaffed, so the task assignments need to be adjusted.

Core concept

More people gather around a smaller amount of work, leaving some hands with little useful to do.

Common phrases

  • 团队中人浮于事tuán duì zhōng rén fú yú shì

    too many staff on the team

  • 出现人浮于事chū xiàn rén fú yú shì

    become overstaffed

Similar words

人手过多rén shǒu guò duō: A surplus of workers beyond the number needed to complete the work.
人员过剩rén yuán guò shèng: Staffing an organization with more employees than its actual work needs.
人员冗余rén yuán rǒng yú: Unneeded extra staff within an organization.

Definition in Chinese

指组织或单位中工作人员超过实际工作需要，许多人无事可做或难以发挥作用。zhǐ zǔ zhī huò dān wèi zhōng gōng zuò rén yuán chāo guò shí jì gōng zuò xū yào xǔ duō rén wú shì kě zuò huò nán yǐ fā huī zuò yòng

Word origin

人 (rén, "people") + 浮 (fú, "float") + 于 (yú, "over") + 事 (shì, "work") creates the image of people floating above the available work.

Usage tips

  • This idiom usually describes a staffing problem in a whole team or organization, not simply one person who happens to be free for a day.

Opposites

  • 各尽其责gè jǐn qí zéeach person fulfills their responsibilitiesidiom
  • 人尽其才rén jìn qí cáieach person makes full use of their talentsidiom

Word lists with this word