Human resources is one of the main functions that companies have to deal with. Human resources can run the gamut from recruiting, hiring and firing employees to providing training to dealing with payroll and benefits. For companies of all sizes, it may make sense to outsource at least some human resources functions.

Many companies choose to focus their human resources efforts on recruiting and hiring the right types of people. More than half of all companies and organization say employee retention is a problem, and while employees leave jobs for a number of reasons, you are less likely to get an employee who leaves the organization quickly if you do a good job of hiring people who are the right fit. Studies show that nearly a quarter of employees don’t even make it two months at their job, and such bad hiring decisions can have a big effect on a company’s bottom line. For companies that choose to focus their HR staff on employee recruitment and hiring, it may make sense to outsource other functions, such as benefits and payroll. There are a number of companies that specialize in doing payroll and benefits functions for companies, and entering into such an arrangement can even save you money compared to having your own staff to do the work.

Some other companies would rather focus on benefits and other aspects of HR and leave the recruiting and hiring of employees to outplacement companies. There are a number of companies that focus on finding employees for companies, from temp firms to executive search firms. Companies often use one or the other. They either use temp firms to find them regular production or other employees or they use a talent acquisition firms to recruit for executive and/or specialty positions. There are some proven advantages to these methods. Using temp firms can save you money because those firms often take on responsibility for any employee benefits. Using HR executive search firms can mean you get a wider pool of qualified applicants that are pre-screened to your specifications.

Getting the most out of human resources is a tricky balance for any company. The size of your HR department usually will be dictated by the size of the company, but HR departments both large and small can benefit from outsourcing some functions.