The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 7 plus 3 letter word EARLY CLOSING DAY
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
E
A
R
L
Y
C
L
O
S
I
N
G
D
A
Y
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "when work is cut short" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case when work is cut short = early closing day.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.