HR Companies & HR Consultants in Des Plaines, IL

Gosa Group is a consulting firm and UKG services partner. It works only with the UKG human capital management platform and helps employers get more value from their UKG HR, payroll and workforce management systems. The firm has operated since 2007 and lists its office in Rosemont, Illinois, next to Des Plaines.

Its main clients are organizations that already run UKG Pro, UKG Ready or UKG WFM Dimensions, or that plan to adopt one of them, and that want specialist help beyond what their internal staff can provide.

Services across the UKG lifecycle

The firm covers each stage of a UKG deployment, from the first rollout through ongoing support. It also does technical work. Its services include:

• Premier Support for UKG Pro and UKG WFM, where Gosa consultants act as part of the client's own team
• Full implementations, plus client-side support for projects led by others
• Post-go-live stabilization during the early months when user adoption is at stake
• Optimization reviews and roadmap planning for systems that were never fully configured
• Activation of additional modules and system support during mergers and acquisitions
• Interfaces, third-party integrations and API support
• UKG Business Intelligence reporting, including scheduled reports and dashboards
• Disaster recovery support

How the firm works with clients

Gosa Group presents itself as a partner to clients' internal HR, payroll and IT teams. It does not position itself as a vendor that delivers a project and then leaves. Its consultants take on routine UKG administration and project work so client staff can spend more time on strategic duties.

The firm says this approach helps projects stay on schedule and within budget. In optimization work, it first reviews the client's existing UKG setup. It then plans process changes and carries them out, with the aim of matching core business processes to the platform's capabilities.

For reporting, its BI specialists teach end users to work with UKG's reporting suite and build recurring outputs for decision-makers.

Credentials and experience

The company says it has been a certified UKG implementation partner for more than 12 years. It reports over 200 completed implementations and says its consultants are trained and certified on the platform. According to the firm, its consultants have an average of about 15 years of UKG experience and roughly 20 years in HCM generally.

It calls its service model "white glove" and states that it has received awards. Gosa Group also publishes a resources blog with news and guidance on UKG, HR, payroll and workforce topics.

Gosa Group is a narrow specialist, not a general HR consultancy or outsourcing provider. It does not handle recruiting, benefits brokerage or employee relations work. It is a good fit for organizations that are committed to UKG and need deep platform knowledge for HRIS administration, payroll configuration, timekeeping and scheduling, integrations or analytics. Companies that use other HR software, or that need broader HR advisory services, will likely need to look elsewhere.

Northwest Benefit Consultants, Inc. is a Des Plaines, Illinois firm that works in the employee benefits side of human resources. It focuses on two areas: tax-qualified retirement plans and Section 125 cafeteria plans.

Employers that want an outside specialist to set up and run these programs, rather than handle the technical work through in-house HR or payroll staff, are its main audience. It suits organizations of very different sizes, since the firm says it works with small companies as well as larger ones.

What the firm does

The company covers the full life of a benefit plan. It helps an employer choose and design a plan structure, puts the plan into operation, and then acts as the plan's third-party administrator once it is running. For buyers, this means one outside partner handles the design decisions, the setup and the recurring administration, so the work is not split across several vendors. On top of the administration, the firm offers one-on-one consulting fitted to each client's circumstances.

• Design of qualified retirement plans
• Implementation and launch of new plans
• Third-party administration of retirement plans
• Section 125 cafeteria plan design and administration
• Individualized benefit plan consulting
• Proposal preparation for employers reviewing their options

How it works with clients

The firm describes its work as problem-solving: it sets out to address the pressing benefit issues each client faces, and it presents its own distinct method as both what sets it apart and what drives its results. Its consulting is tailored to each employer rather than offered as a standard package.

Prospective clients can begin with a request for proposal, which lets an employer outline its situation and get a proposed approach before making a commitment. This makes it easier to compare the firm with other benefit administrators and HR consultants.

Specialties and background

The firm does not present itself as a general HR outsourcing provider. Its published services center on retirement plan administration and pre-tax cafeteria plans, two benefit areas with heavy compliance requirements. Its website lists the various kinds of qualified retirement plans and Section 125 arrangements it supports, so employers can see whether their current or planned program fits its scope.

The company operates from an office on River Road in Des Plaines. Third-party business listings describe it as a long-established firm with roughly 35 years in operation.

For HR managers, owners and finance leaders comparing outside benefit providers, Northwest Benefit Consultants is a focused choice. It is best suited to organizations that want a dedicated administrator for a qualified retirement plan or a cafeteria plan, together with personal consulting, rather than a broad HR services bundle.