This past year has brought a seemingly never-ending stream of bad business news. Most industries have been affected with millions of jobs lost, pay freezes or cuts and benefits slashed as businesses try to weather the economic storm. The department most responsible for delivering this bad news is the human resources (HR) department. Of course, if you are a small converter, then your HR "department" is probably one person who may or may not have any real HR experience. Where can they go for help? Luckily there are hundreds of HR blogs out there eager to provide helpful advice. Here is a review of five of the most popular ones.

Evil HR Lady (http://evilhrlady.blogspot.com/)

Suzanne Lucas is the self-anointed "Evil HR Lady." Is she really evil? Not at all. But as she explains on her blog, many employees (and business owners) view HR as somewhat evil � a place to go to when you have problems. Lucas, who actually does not reveal her name on her blog, has 10 years of corporate HR experience, mostly in a Fortune 500 setting, and also is a regular columnist for US News & World Report. The strength of this blog is in the question and answer format that Lucas often employs. She takes real HR questions from presumably real office situations and provides advice on how she would have handled it. This is a very popular HR blog which gives it another strength � lots of comments. Each blog post garners many comments and lively discussion.

Your HR Guy (http://www.yourhrguy.com/)

We profiled an HR lady, so it is only fair to include an HR guy. Lance Haun goes by the name of Your HR Guy and he dubs his blog "HR for the masses." Haun calls himself a human resources generalist, which I guess means that he is involved in all aspects of HR. He has around five years of HR experience and he is younger than most of the other bloggers reviewed here. But that doesn't mean his blog is any less insightful. He is not afraid to provide his opinion � in a recent post he slammed the effectiveness of exit interviews. Other recent topics he has tackled include communicating with employees, resume mistakes and employee competitiveness.

HR Bartender (http://www.hrbartender.com/)

Sharlyn Lauby is the HR Bartender (don't you just love the names these HR bloggers come up with). She is president of ITM Group Inc., a human resources consulting firm located in South Florida. Before that she was the vice president of HR for a large consulting firm and has written a book about motivating employees. Lauby talks less about the details of HR and more about leadership, influence and training. She is particularly interested in the changing business landscape and how that will impact the future of HR. Recent posts discussed ways to create a more innovative workplace, leaders who refuse to ask for help and whether or not a company should have a social media policy for employees.

KnowHR (http://www.knowhr.com/blog/)

Like many specialties, the world of HR has its own set of acronyms and jargon. But you won't find any on the KnowHR blog. This blog serves up "straight talk about human resources" in refreshingly simple language. KnowHR is the company blog of iFractal, an HR consulting firm in Philadelphia. HR people are very creative and this blog takes a light hearted approach to HR issues by poking fun at the profession with the occasional HR Bobbleheads video series. Most of the blog posts are concise, making just one point, often with a quick story to illustrate it. KnowHR is creative, a quick read, and covers a variety of HR topics in a straightforward and enjoyable way.

The Human Resources Blog (http://www.humanresourcesblog.com/)

We round out our review of HR blogs with the unimaginably named Human Resources Blog. This is the blog of HR411, an online human resources portal for small and medium sized businesses. The Human Resources Blog is aimed at small businesses and provides a range of practical advice on all kinds of HR topics geared to the small business owner. Here are some titles from recent blog posts: "10 Steps for Getting Poor Performers Back on Track," "Legal Considerations When Conducting Background Checks," and "10 Tips for Delivering Bad News to Great Employees." As you can see, this blog specializes in actionable advice for the small business owner.

Peter Renton is the founder of Lightning Labels Inc., an all-digital label printer in Denver, CO, USA. He is also the co-author of the company's blog at blog.lightninglabels.com.