Employees, such as supervisors, managers, executives and administrative support staff, who do not actually make or sell the goods, but perform administrative functions.
Indirect labour is included as part of operating expenses. It involves essential services but not the product itself. The notion of "indirect labour" can be opposed to that of "direct labour."
In the process of revolutionising the labour process, the technical division of labour has shifted from direct to indirect labour (i.e. from processing, assembling and moving materials to regulating, administering, organising and improving production systems).