The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 4 letter word SKELETON CREW
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
S
K
E
L
E
T
O
N
C
R
E
W
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Not many hands on" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case not many hands on = skeleton crew.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.