Human Rights in Business: A Fireside Chat with Smruti Govan, PepsiCo.
The last installment of the Center for Responsible Business’s (CRB) Human Rights & Business series took place on March 12, 2025 as a fireside chat with Smruti Govan, the Legal Director of Human Rights and Sustainable Sourcing at PepsiCo. Moderated by Christina Clark (MBA ‘25), a CRB Student Advisory Board Member, the two discussed what a career in human rights can look like, how businesses are taking action on human rights, and the evolving role human rights play in business operations.
The Intersection of Business and Human Rights
Companies are increasingly being held accountable for their impacts on human rights such as forced labor and child labor in supply chains, wage theft and inequality, and carbon emissions that exacerbate the climate crisis. Govan emphasized the importance of taking preventative and corrective action on human rights in order to mitigate serious operational and reputational risks.
She explained how at PepsiCo, this commitment is operationalized through key actions like global human rights audits across suppliers, ensuring compliance in manufacturing sites and agricultural sourcing. The company collaborates cross-functionally with procurement, HR, legal teams, and sustainable agriculture experts to both monitor risks and build supplier capacity for long-term improvements.
Prioritizing Human Rights Risks in Supply Chains
A key step in the process of integrating human rights into business is identifying risk areas and priorities. For PepsiCo these include forced labor, freedom of association, living wages, and climate change. Govan highlighted that companies are increasingly focusing on forced labor and child labor, driven by growing regulatory risks and consumer expectations. High-risk commodities such as palm oil and sugar require enhanced due diligence, given their history of labor violations.
Govan also emphasized that businesses must take a people-first approach when assessing human rights risks. This means shifting from a model of risk to business toward a more holistic risk to people framework, ensuring that policies genuinely benefit workers rather than just protect corporate interests.
How Companies Measure Progress
A major challenge for businesses is measuring human rights progress effectively. While quantifiable metrics—such as the number of human rights audits conducted or employees trained—offer some insight, real change requires long-term tracking of supplier behavior and structural improvements. PepsiCo and many other companies start by leveraging industry-wide frameworks like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) to guide their approach, but varying regulations across countries can make it difficult to standardize efforts.
Each Industry Presents Its Own Challenges
Based on her experience working across both the apparel and food & beverage industries, Govan discussed how industry-wide progress on human rights can vary by sector. For example, the apparel industry has made notable progress in supplier transparency, with many companies publishing supplier lists and working collaboratively on industry-wide initiatives. Gender equity is also a bigger focus in apparel, as most garment workers and consumers identify as women. In the food and beverage industry, companies also have regulations around quality standards, food safety, and labor conditions. However, this industry is less advanced in its skills or efforts to build coalition and collaboration across companies.
Leveraging Business Influence to Drive Change
Companies hold significant leverage over their suppliers, which they can use to influence and enforce improved human rights practices. Govan also discussed the nuances of how to proceed when a supplier is found to be non-compliant with human rights standards. Instead of immediately cutting ties with non-compliant suppliers, companies can focus first on engagement and capacity-building to encourage improvement. In addition to contributing towards overall progress, this approach is also more sustainable for businesses rather than replacing one problematic supplier with another, as systemic issues often persist across an industry.
Govan also emphasized the importance of advocacy and policy engagement, citing successful multi-stakeholder initiatives like the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, which emerged in response to the Rana Plaza disaster. Such collaborations highlight how businesses, governments, and civil society can work together to enforce stronger protections for workers.
The Role of AI & Technology in Human Rights Monitoring
The rich discussion tapped into a previous topic from the CRB Human Rights and Business Series. Govan and Clark also discussed the emerging role of AI and technology. Overall, Govan felt positively about the role emerging technologies can play, pointing to examples like the use of satellite analysis to detect deforestation as well as real-time monitoring and predictive analytics for supply chain risks. AI-powered tools are also being explored for facilitating worker access to justice and automating legal case management.
Additionally, new risk management data platforms allow companies to track human rights risks at a granular level, from specific commodities to geographic regions. These innovations enable proactive intervention, rather than relying solely on post-violation audits.
Advice for Students & Future Leaders
When asked for her advice for students and young professionals looking to build a career in corporate responsibility, human rights, or ethical supply chains, Govan shared three key takeaways:
- Develop influence & translation skills – the ability to translate human rights concerns into business priorities is crucial for gaining buy-in from executives and cross-functional teams.
- Be an internal champion – even if human rights isn’t your primary job function, leaders in procurement, operations, and legal departments play a critical role in embedding responsible practices.
- Leverage business as a force for good – whether in a corporate or nonprofit role, understanding how business incentives drive decisions will help you make sustainable, long-term impact.
Ultimately, the conversation highlighted that a career working towards the advancement of human rights can take many formats, and each company and corporate role has a unique and important role to play.
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About the author: Caitlin Kennedy is a Haas Full-Time MBA student (’26) focusing on sustainability in business, and a member of the CRB Student Advisory Board.
