Organizational Summary
Upstream USA is a fast-growing, national nonprofit committed to ensuring that equitable, patient-centered contraceptive care is made available to any patient and is fully integrated into the health system as part of basic health care. We envision a future where all patients are screened for their contraceptive needs and offered patient-centered contraceptive counseling that’s free from bias, noncoercive, trauma-informed and delivered by knowledgeable providers and support staff following best medical practices and evidence-based guidelines. We believe all patients should be able to access the contraceptive service of their choice – when they want it and where it is convenient for them to get it.
We do this by partnering with healthcare organizations, providing them free training, education and technical assistance. Surveys from patients receiving care at Upstream-trained healthcare organizations consistently show that patients feel heard and respected, and are able to access the contraceptive method of their choice.
To meet the growing needs in our country, Upstream has launched a national expansion to transform contraceptive care in more than 700 healthcare organizations across the United States by 2030, reaching 5 million patients of reproductive age. Already, our work with more than 130 healthcare partners in nearly forty percent of the country helps integrate much needed contraceptive services across the spectrum of healthcare, including primary care practices.
Upstream is funded primarily through philanthropic individuals and foundations, and does not accept funding from pharmaceutical companies. Upstream’s budget has grown from $1.7 million just six years ago to approximately $60 million in 2024. Upstream’s work has also garnered attention from many leading publications including Harvard Public Health, Bloomberg, MedPage Today, and Politico.
Position Summary
As a Human Resources Intern on our People team at Upstream, USA, you will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and contribute to various aspects of the human resources function. You will work closely with members of our People team to support employee engagement, total rewards, onboarding, learning & development, recruitment and other People team operational initiatives. This internship offers valuable learning opportunities and exposure to the dynamic field of human resources with opportunity to gain visibility and hands on experience in the key HR functional areas listed below. Availability to commit to 40 hours per week for the duration of the internship preferable.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
HR Administration Support
- Provide administrative support to the People team, including maintaining employee records, updating databases, and preparing related documents.
- Assist in creating and maintaining employee folders, ensuring all required paperwork is complete and up to date.
- Organize and file documents in employee folders, including offer letters, contracts, and performance evaluations.
- Support with compliance-related tasks, such as ensuring proper documentation and adherence to policies and procedures with guidance.
- Provide support to our HRIS system implementation, including running reports in our current system
Learning and Development
- Support the coordination of career ladder development for employees
- Updating job description summaries
- Tracking in 15Five (our talent development software)
- Assist with LinkedIn Learning employee compliance
- High-value activity: facilitate a presentation for a larger audience that is the culmination of the intern’s experience working on our People team or present on a special topic of interest. Gain practical experience with facilitation, communication and critical thinking skills.
Recruitment Support
- Assist with the talent acquisition and recruitment process, including posting job openings, reviewing resumes, database updates and maintenance in Greenhouse (our applicant tracking system) and scheduling interviews.
- Job description storage assistance in our HRIS
Employee Engagement
- Contribute to employee engagement initiatives, such as organizing team-building activities, recognition programs, and wellness initiatives.
- Assist with survey administration, data analysis, and action planning based on employee feedback; help analyze data to assist in developing an organization wide goals.
Employee Onboarding and Offboarding
- Support the onboarding process for new hires which may include welcome packages, facilitating orientation sessions, and ensuring a smooth transition into the organization.
- Assist with offboarding activities, such as shadowing exit interviews and processing employee departures.
- Additional duties as assigned
Required Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Ability
Upstream celebrates and fosters an inclusive work environment and encourages people of all identities, perspectives and backgrounds to apply.
- Pursuing a degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, or a related field.
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Detail-oriented with excellent organizational skills.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information with discretion.
- Understanding of employee file maintenance and
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
- Enthusiastic about learning and contributing to the HR function.
- Experience with file management or creating and organizing documents is a plus.
Other Upstream Staff Expectations
- Upstream USA’s COVID-19 Vaccine Policy requires employees to have completed a COVID-19 vaccine primary series unless a medical or religious exemption is approved. As a condition of employment, newly hired employees must provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccination or, if applicable, request a medical or religious exemption.
- All Upstreamers must also be able to attend work-related in-person meetings and functions as needed.
- In our hybrid work environments, there is a basic expectation that our Upstreamers will ensure that their work from home setups will have reliable access to phone and Internet to ensure connectivity to their teams.
Attributes
The ideal candidate will embody and embrace our core values which serve as our operating principles:
- We keep our mission at the center; Upstream's mission is to ensure that equitable, patient-centered contraceptive care is basic healthcare
- We trust each other; we are reliable, empathetic, compassionately direct, and confident in each others’ ability to do the same
- We work every day to build an equitable, diverse and inclusive culture; we respect the backgrounds contexts and experiences of individuals, teams and partners in our interactions
- We bring joy to our work; we create opportunities to celebrate, connect and strengthen relationships with one another.
Travel Requirements
This role will require local travel twice each week into our Boston office for in person meetings.
Hiring Range
The hourly rate for this internship is $20/hour.
Hiring Process
Candidates who advance in our preliminary review process will have an opportunity to discuss the position, their employment background and lived experience with a member of our talent acquisition team by telephone. Those who advance to subsequent steps in our interview process may participate in up to three rounds of meetings by Zoom or in person and in a thought exercise/case study assignment. Each round could consist of multiple meetings with various Upstreamers.
EDI Vision Statement
Internally, we envision promoting equity by reducing disparities in the Upstream talent lifecycle and engagement, cultivating a diverse workforce and inclusive culture, and fostering power sharing when we make decisions.
EDI Guiding Principles
Through Equity, both in the workplace and in contraceptive care, we address root causes that enable disparities to occur, acknowledge that different resources and opportunities may be needed to reach fairer outcomes, and implement systems-level changes that are sustainable over time.
Through Diversity, we acknowledge, respect, and celebrate the collective mixture of differences and similarities of Upstreamers and our community partners. At Upstream, we value the diversity of identities at all intersections, while at the same time centering racial diversity.
Through Inclusion, we succeed at creating a culture of belonging that embraces differences in identities and experiences by building trust, joy, and psychological safety. We cherish and elevate these differences through power-sharing in how things get done internally and in service of our mission.
Communities of Belonging
Serving as employee resource groups for Upstreamers, Communities of Belonging assist in advancing our equity, diversity, and inclusion journey. They assist in instilling organizational values in our work and support our EDI vision. Open to all employees, Communities of Belonging create opportunities for leadership development, community engagement, support, and resource mobilization.
Upstream Careers
At Upstream, we embrace diversity. We nurture it and we thrive on it because it benefits our organization, our partners, and our community. Our goal is to attract, develop and retain exceptional people, and to create a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. Upstream is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, genetic information, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know. Learn more about working at Upstream, our values, and our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Upstream USA participates in E-Verify.
Upstream Headquarters
2 Oliver Street, Suite 402, Boston, MA 02109
No phone calls please.
Be advised that we do not ever conduct hiring interviews via text or email. Please protect yourself by learning more about our hiring practices and common red flags to look out for.
