Implementing Sustainability · Podcast
Episode 07

Beyond the audit: what real supply-chain improvement looks like

Host Rishi Sher Singh sits down with Meera Nair to unpack why passing audits isn't the same as improving — and what it takes to make change actually stick on the factory floor.

Season 1
42 min
18 Sep 2026
EP 07
Implementing Sustainability
World of Gears
Episode 07 · Beyond the audit
00:00 / 42:18
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In this episode

For years, "passing the audit" was the finish line. But as buyers deepen their human-rights due-diligence expectations, the questions have changed — from "Do you have a policy?" to "Can you show us how it works?" In this episode we dig into what genuine, worker-informed improvement looks like, and why the fixes that last are the ones the shop floor helps design.

What you'll take away

Chapters

00:00
Introductions — who's on the floor with us today
04:30
Why "audit pass" stopped being enough
12:10
The findings that keep coming back
21:45
What rightsholder-informed work looks like
31:20
Making change stick after we leave
38:05
One piece of advice for suppliers
MN
The guest

Meera Nair

Head of Responsible Sourcing

Meera has spent fifteen years working across textile and automotive supply chains in India, helping manufacturers move from reactive compliance to genuine, worker-centred improvement. She's a firm believer that the best due-diligence data comes from conversations on the floor, not forms in an inbox.

Hosted by Rishi Sher Singh, Founder of World of Gears.
You can't audit your way to a better factory. The change that lasts is the change the people on the floor helped build.
Meera Nair · Episode 07
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