HUMAN CAPITAL ADVISOR BRIEFING · ISSUE 10 · OCTOBER 2026
A monthly briefing for consultants and transformation advisers on what's happening in your clients' sectors, plus the Human Capital Intelligence (culture, workforce and talent) to take into the room. Built on Deltabase data covering 5,500+ companies and 11M employee reviews.
Aerospace & Defence clients ended October with a clear growth signal and a sharper governance agenda. The government and Rolls-Royce agreed a £2.5bn engine programme, new employment duties took effect, and UK vacancies fell to a five-year low. For advisers, the board conversation is shifting towards Human Capital evidence across culture, workforce and talent. Our data shows leadership sentiment weakening across the sector, small dedicated HR and management functions, and digital skills that vary widely between peers.
Phil Spratt, CEO & Co-Founder, Deltabase
What happened: Announced in the Budget on 28 October, the ten-year, jointly funded £2.5bn programme targets next-generation engines for single-aisle aircraft. It is expected to support about 3,300 existing jobs over the next few years, with the potential for tens of thousands of new roles, and comes with a jobs and skills plan.
The Deltabase lens: Rolls-Royce's NSS fell from +9.7% to +5.1% in 2025 (249 reviews), and its Learning & Development score from +68.4% to +46.2%. Deltabase Workforce data puts 18.5% of its workforce in Tech roles, 6.5% in engineering, maintenance and facilities, and 3.5% in manufacturing.
Client angle: Programmes on this scale need a skills and leadership plan that boards can track. Advisers who bring the culture and workforce baseline will help shape it.
What happened: From 1 October, most Employment Tribunal time limits doubled to six months. From 30 October, employers must take "all reasonable steps" to prevent sexual harassment and can be liable for harassment by third parties, while unions gained new workplace access rights.
The Deltabase lens: Supportive Leadership is the metric that matters here, and it weakened across the sector: the Aerospace & Defence median fell from −23.7% to −29.5% in 2025. Deltabase Workforce data shows how small the dedicated people layer is: HR makes up a median 1.4% of the workforce across nine of the ten companies, and operational managers 2.5% at Rolls-Royce and 1.5% at Airbus.
Client angle: Boards will want evidence that reasonable steps are being taken, and leadership sentiment alongside management spans gives advisers a defensible starting point.
What happened: UK unemployment fell to 4.7% in the three months to August, while vacancies dropped by 21,000 to 691,000 in the three months to September, a five-year low.
The Deltabase lens: A softer market does not fix bureaucracy. Median Agility & Bureaucracy NSS across Aerospace & Defence was −80.4% in 2025. Deltabase Talent data shows the improvement capability clients already have: continuous improvement skills are listed by 9.8% of Rolls-Royce's workforce and 7.8% of Airbus's.
Client angle: Transformation work that removes process friction is the most direct lever available while hiring is easier, and it can build on skills already in the workforce.
−29.5%: median Supportive Leadership NSS across ten Aerospace & Defence Top 100 companies in 2025, down from −23.7% in 2024, with HR a median 1.4% of the workforce.
| Company | Supportive Leadership 2024 | Supportive Leadership 2025 | Workforce: HR share |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Dynamics | +7.2% | +3.6% | 1.1% |
| Lockheed Martin | −8.8% | −14.3% | 1.4% |
| Airbus | −22.9% | −20.3% | 1.5% |
| Rolls-Royce | −40.8% | −42.4% | 1.3% |
| Boeing | −44.3% | −42.0% | 1.3% |
| Sector median | −23.7% | −29.5% | 1.4% |
Source: Deltabase Culture data, Employee Net Sentiment Score (−100% to +100%), Supportive Leadership topic, 2024–2025; Deltabase Workforce data, HR function as a share of workforce. Culture median of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX, General Dynamics, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Leonardo and Thales; Workforce median of the same companies excluding BAE Systems.
Two European aerospace champions moved in opposite directions in 2025. Airbus rose from +13.0% to +21.4% (983 reviews), the strongest score in the sector, with Learning & Development at +60.0%. Rolls-Royce fell from +9.7% to +5.1% (249 reviews), with Supportive Leadership at −42.4%. Their workforce shapes are close, with Tech roles at 18.5% of Rolls-Royce's workforce and 18.6% of Airbus's, but the talent mix differs: 2.5% of Airbus staff list AI skills and 6.6% Python, against 1.7% and 3.5% at Rolls-Royce. Median tenure is 7.4 years at Rolls-Royce and 4.4 at Airbus. With Rolls-Royce at the centre of a £2.5bn national programme, leadership and new-skills intake are the metrics to watch.
Walk into every pitch with the people data already in hand. Advisers use Deltabase to benchmark culture, talent and workforce trends for any client or target in minutes. See how it works →
Sources: GOV.UK (28 October 2026); Morgan Lewis (15 October 2026); ITV News (20 October 2026); Deltabase Culture data; Deltabase Workforce data; Deltabase Talent data; Deltabase Employee Turnover data.