"HR Outsourcing: Benefits, Challenges and Trends," sponsored by Accenture, is the Conference Board's second study to track the benefits of human resources outsourcing and changes in the HR marketplace. Based on the results of a survey of executives at more than 120 companies in North America and Europe with annual revenues of at least US$1 billion, the new study found that outsourcing is now firmly embedded as part of HR service delivery.

Some 76 percent of respondents surveyed said their organizations currently outsource one or more major HR functions, and 80 percent of those said they would do so again. In addition, 71 percent of the surveyed companies that currently outsource HR said that they will extend or renegotiate contracts with their current outsourcing providers and 29 percent said that they will put their existing outsourced services out for a new bid.

An overwhelming majority of respondents (91 percent) reported either having achieved or partially achieved their HR outsourcing objectives. Only nine percent of respondents said they are entirely against outsourcing some or all of their major human resources functions, compared with 23 percent in the previous year's survey.

"Many companies today view HR outsourcing as one of the most viable options to save money and improve services while also making a strategic contribution to the business," said David Clinton, president of Accenture HR Services, an Accenture business that provides human resources services on an outsourced basis. "The most compelling indicator of outsourcing's high approval rating is the fact that none of the survey respondents plans to bring that activity back in-house."

HR programs that are most often fully outsourced are: 401(k) programs (selected by 53 percent of respondents); pensions/benefits (30 percent); stock options administration (30 percent); and health benefits (29 percent). Leading the list of partially outsourced services are health benefits (50 percent), training and development (48 percent) and payroll (40 percent).

The study also found that while most companies fully outsource some HR programs, they often deliver their HR services via a blended solution, using both internal and external capabilities with multiple providers.