Some HR Offloading Options Besides the PEO

So what responsibilities should you offload if your business is overburdened with HR duties? And to whom should you transfer the tasks?

Some aspects of HR are little more than pushing paper, a duty that an administrative assistant or office manager can handle.

Other jobs are repetitive and high-volume transactions, like payroll processing, which you can easily automate with software or outsource to a third party, such as ADP or Ultimate Software. (See our Buyer's Guide to Payroll Software and Services.)

Some of the payroll companies also offer other services. ADP, for example, also does employee screening, benefits, and workmen's compensation services (as well as a PEO service, described below). There are also some companies that offer HR software as a service over the Web. The pioneer in this field is Employease. There are even companies that handle the paperwork necessary for you to offer your employees 401(k) plans (see the sidebar "Options for 401(k) Plans").

But if you want to outsource as much of your HR as possible, take a look at something called a professional employer organization (PEO). That's the subject of the rest of this Buyer's Guide.