Take A Load Off!

• Outsourcing your HR tasks is a major decision that impacts both your costs and your employees. Do your research before making any decision. A good starting place: Outsourcing Human Resources Functions (Amacom), by HR executive Mary F. Cook. At $75, it's pricey, but it provides such helpful details as a 12-page outsourcing plan, tips on how to negotiate a contract and pointers on selecting a vendor.

• Find out still more at The Outsourcing Center (http://www.outsourcing-center.com), a site that features plenty of links to consultants as well as articles, an outsourcing magazine (Outsourcing Journal), and links to a library filled with many more books on the topic.

This article was originally published in the August 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Take A Load Off!.