Costs that are not charged to a specific product or project, such as administrative overhead (the human resources and accounts payable departments), cleaning and maintenance crews, or other expenses not directly related to the actual production of a good or service. Often indirect labor costs are found at headquarters, while an employee on a manufacturing line will have his or her salary charged to the product that is being produced. The salary of the person in the accounting department who processes the paychecks and the human resources person who answers questions for that line worker wonÂ’t be charged to the product that is being manufactured.