HR Companies & HR Consultants in Boulder, CO

Ascend, Inc. is a human capital management consulting firm that works only with UKG software. Mid-market and enterprise employers use Ascend to set up, improve and run their UKG Pro, UKG Workforce Management and UKG Ready systems. It suits HR, payroll and timekeeping teams that want one specialist partner for the whole time they use UKG, from choosing and installing the system to supporting it for years afterward. UKG named Ascend its 2024 Partner of the Year.

Background and Team

Ascend was formed when two established UKG partners, HRMS Solutions and ATS Management Consulting, merged. The company says the combined firm has more than 130 certified consultants and more than 300 projects underway, which makes it one of the largest UKG-focused partners in North America. Its consultants have hands-on backgrounds in HR and payroll, along with UKG certifications, project management skills and software deployment experience. The company says it has been delivering UKG projects for more than twenty years.

Implementation and Launch Support

For organizations new to UKG, Ascend can lead the full launch or advise the customer's own team from the client side. Launch work follows a structured, collaborative method. It typically includes:

• Project scheduling, milestone tracking and contingency planning
• Orientation sessions so the core team learns what the system can do
• Design and blueprinting workshops to set configuration goals
• System configuration that reflects the client's business processes
• Moving current and historical data out of older systems
• Planning and testing integrations with payroll providers, insurance carriers and learning platforms
• User acceptance testing and core team training using the client's own data
• Support during cutover to production and the stabilization period afterward

Optimization After Go-Live

Ascend's post-live services are for companies that went live without using every module, cut back features to meet deadlines, or have grown or changed since launch. Consultants review system health and security, set improvement priorities, build reports and dashboards, and roll out unused features.

These include recruiting and onboarding, performance and goals, compensation, benefits and open enrollment, and HR service delivery. Ascend also supports clients through mergers and acquisitions, helps them adopt new UKG releases, and can lend UKG specialists to in-house HR and payroll teams. Its Premier service gives clients dedicated consultants who handle ongoing UKG needs.

Managed Payroll and Strategic Services

Ascend's managed payroll service runs payroll on UKG Pro and UKG Ready. It can cover the whole payroll process or just selected tasks. Its certified payroll staff manage pay schedules, keep track of changes in tax and labor rules, and handle the complications of teams spread across the United States and Canada.

Because the payroll staff work from many locations, Ascend says payroll can still be processed if a local disruption such as bad weather hits. Ascend's other services include change management, yearly system health checks, custom training programs, business intelligence reporting, talent interviewing support, and HCM advisory and vendor evaluation for organizations comparing software options.

Ascend's client testimonials come from organizations in energy, business services, government contracting, food and beverage, senior living, insurance, student transportation and hospitality. Its main difference from many competitors is that it works only with UKG, so buyers who have already chosen that platform get a partner whose whole practice is built around it.

Gross Consulting, Inc. is a founder-led consultancy headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. It works mainly with service-based companies and small to mid-sized employers. Besides its people-operations work, the firm offers bookkeeping, sales systems, branding, website and advertising support. That makes it a fit for buyers who want HR handled alongside wider operational help instead of hiring a standalone HR shop. The company says it has served clients since 2016.

HR and Payroll Support

The HR practice is designed for owners who need structure in their people processes but do not want the cost of an internal HR department. Support is delivered virtually and focuses on getting core administration organized, documented and ready for an audit. Its main areas include:

• Remote HR and payroll administration, including payroll system setup and coordination
• Employee onboarding workflows
• Personnel documentation and recordkeeping
• Compliance-oriented HR processes and policy support
• Hiring frameworks, role definitions, org chart improvements and clearer recruiting steps
• HR and operational SOPs that make employee management more consistent
• Leadership development, executive coaching and organizational design consulting
• Executive compensation consulting and interim management help

How They Work

Gross Consulting presents itself as an implementer rather than a firm that only gives advice. Instead of handing over recommendations, the team builds the documentation, workflows and systems that owners then use day to day, and it can keep managing them afterward. It pairs AI tools and automation with human oversight to cut down on routine administrative work.

Because the firm also does bookkeeping, sales consulting and marketing, clients can bring HR, finance and growth projects to one provider so the work is not split across separate vendors.

Clients and Specialties

The firm's founder has worked with real estate investors, attorneys, physicians and neighborhood service providers. Several of its offerings are aimed at law firms in particular, such as consulting for solo and small legal practices and law firm bookkeeping. Its stated goal is to help growing businesses build the operating foundation they need to move from six-figure revenue toward seven- and eight-figure levels. Most engagements are remote, so the company also takes on clients outside Colorado.

Background and Credentials

Jaiden Gross started the company after watching service-business owners struggle with disorganized operations and the strain of growing without enough support. The founder's approach combines operational structure, compliance help and growth planning. From the Boulder office, the firm serves Colorado's small-business community as well as clients in other states.

Gross Consulting reports that it has been verified as a Gusto Accountancy Partner, which supports its payroll and onboarding work. It also says it is a verified Meta partner for its advertising services. Buyers who want HR administration, payroll coordination and wider business consulting from a single source may find this combined model worth a look.

Overview

Operated by Turning the Corner LLC, Turning the Corner HR runs a Colorado human resources practice from offices in Boulder and Denver. Although it takes on clients across the United States, its roots are in the Boulder area, where it has supplied outsourced HR support since 2011.

Its core market is the growing employer that has outgrown informal people practices but is not ready, or does not wish, to staff a complete in-house HR department; the firm cites a typical client size of roughly 20 to 250 employees.

The company frames its work around the belief that most business difficulties ultimately trace back to people. It treats human resources as a lever for stronger teams and better leaders rather than an administrative function limited to policy manuals, and its stated mission centers on reducing misery at work so that staff and owners alike find their jobs rewarding.

Services

Buyers can engage the firm across several connected practice areas:

• Fractional and interim HR leadership on a part-time basis
• General HR consulting, including a dedicated offering for franchisees
• HR compliance and employment risk management
• Recruiting and executive search, from shop-floor manufacturing and sales hires to technical, managerial and C-level roles
• Leadership development for emerging leaders, managers and executives
• Team training and professional coaching
• Outplacement services

In recruiting, the team weighs skills, cultural fit and onboarding, aiming for hires who add value over time and for a bench of candidates ready for future openings, and it contrasts this with high-volume placement agencies. Through a separate career site, the firm also helps individual job seekers with career coaching, resume writing and interview preparation.

Working Style

Rather than acting as a remote adviser, the company describes itself as working inside a client's leadership group. Engagements generally start with learning how the organization runs and pinpointing obstacles, after which consultants put workflows, growth-ready people strategies and training in place and stay involved through execution.

Prospective clients can begin with a complimentary one-hour HR consultation, and the firm publishes free material such as a people strategy assessment, a guide of culture tips, an eBook titled The People Revolution, articles, events and a podcast.

Background and Clients

Kendra Prospero, the firm's founder and chief executive, leads the company and also works as a keynote speaker. She and the company have been recognized by outlets such as BizWest, ColoradoBiz and the Denver Business Journal, and in 2026 the Denver Business Journal listed the firm among the area's largest women-owned businesses and largest employers.

Published case studies describe building a competency framework, performance management and career paths for The Colorado Health Foundation, recruiting and leader development for Triplepoint Environmental, and filling specialized manufacturing roles for HF Rubber.

Other organizations shown on its site include Palace Construction, Merritt Trailers, Nine Dot Arts, Ozo Coffee Company, Playworks, Lignetics, Overtone and Isotec Security, and a senior HR director at Camp Bow Wow is among those quoted in client testimonials.