Henry Wong wrote:I always thought the phrase "on the beach" meant unemployed. This is very different from "on the bench".
In the software consulting business, I've always heard/used "on the beach". As mentioned upthread, it means that there are no billable projects that they can assign you to work on. Its a normal part of the business, if its short term. No manager can keep his/her job if too many staff are on the beach very long. If its too many, for too long, the manager gets fired, along with the staff.
Definitions of "too many staff" and "too long" vary.