HUMAN CAPITAL PULSE: LIFE SCIENCES · ISSUE 2 · FEBRUARY 2026
A monthly Human Capital benchmark for HR and People leaders in Life Sciences: the sector's talking points and how culture, workforce and talent compare across your peers, built on Deltabase data covering 5,500+ companies and 11M employee reviews.
February was about leadership. GSK's new chief executive set out a 'product-centric' agenda in his first results, while the company trimmed R&D roles at Stevenage. Across the US market, fewer jobs were cut in January but competition for each opening rose. When the organisation is being redrawn and people are staying put, line managers carry the culture. Our data shows Supportive Leadership improving at the sector median, but at only four of ten peers.
Leroy Hall, Deltabase
What happened: Presenting full-year 2025 results in his first weeks as CEO, Luke Miels said: "We need to be more product-centric as a company." He wants every function, from R&D and manufacturing to commercial and admin, aligned to products, with more "scientific courage" and agility. GSK grew revenue 7% at constant exchange rates to £32.7bn and guided to 3% to 5% sales growth in 2026.
The Deltabase lens: Culture: The agenda lands on a weaker leadership base. GSK's Supportive Leadership NSS fell from −17.6% to −22.5% in 2025, and Agility & Bureaucracy from −57.5% to −63.6%. Workforce: General Admin roles make up 4.0% of GSK's workforce and Transformation roles 2.4%, the functions a product-led redesign will reach first.
So what: A new CEO's agenda is delivered by line managers; measure leadership sentiment before and after the redesign.
What happened: GSK is cutting up to about 350 R&D roles across the UK and US as it removes duplication in its research organisation, with around 50 UK roles at its Stevenage hub affected so far. The company said it is still increasing R&D investment and wants "the right people in the right teams".
The Deltabase lens: Workforce: R&D is a small share of headcount at the UK and Swiss majors (3.5% at GSK, 4.0% at AstraZeneca, 4.2% at Novartis) against 19.6% at Eli Lilly and 17.5% at AbbVie, so cuts land on a concentrated, specialist group. Talent: 5.1% of GSK's people list change management skills.
So what: In scientific teams, every role cut is visible; explain the design logic as well as the numbers.
What happened: BioSpace reported that 11 biopharmas cut or planned to cut 463 jobs in January, down from 1,302 a year earlier. Live job postings fell to 7,918 from 8,645, while applications per posting rose to 4.2 from 3.6.
The Deltabase lens: Workforce: Movement is low. Monthly turnover in January was 0.6% at Pfizer, 0.8% at AstraZeneca, GSK and Eli Lilly, and 1.0% at Johnson & Johnson. Talent: Managers' change capability varies: 5.9% of Lilly's people list change management skills, against 1.5% at Johnson & Johnson.
So what: In a tight market, people stay but may disengage; manager quality, not the market, decides retention.
−21.6%: median Supportive Leadership NSS across ten Life Sciences Top 100 companies in 2025, up from −27.5%, though only four of the ten improved.
| Company | Culture: Supportive Leadership NSS 2025 | Culture: change vs 2024 | Talent: % with change management skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanofi | −8.6% | +6.3 pts | 4.8% |
| Novartis | −17.3% | −5.3 pts | 5.4% |
| AstraZeneca | −20.6% | +6.7 pts | 5.0% |
| GSK | −22.5% | −4.9 pts | 5.1% |
| AbbVie | −28.4% | −0.8 pts | 4.6% |
| Eli Lilly | −38.4% | −4.1 pts | 5.9% |
Source: Deltabase Culture data, Employee Net Sentiment Score (−100% to +100%), 2024–2025; sector median of AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi. Deltabase Talent data, share of workforce listing change management skills.
Two US giants with different leadership stories. On Culture, Pfizer's overall NSS rose from +5.9% to +11.6% (936 reviews), and its Supportive Leadership score improved 16.5 pts to −18.8%, the biggest gain among the ten peers. Johnson & Johnson held steadier at +12.0% (from +13.5%, 1,723 reviews), with Supportive Leadership at −11.8%, second only to Sanofi. On Talent, 8.0% of Pfizer's people list training skills and 4.5% AI skills, against 3.8% and 1.2% at Johnson & Johnson. On Workforce, average monthly turnover in 2025 was 0.9% at Pfizer and 1.0% at Johnson & Johnson, with median tenure of 6.1 and 5.4 years.
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Sources: Fierce Pharma (February 2026); The Independent, via Newswav (2 February 2026); BioSpace (11 February 2026); Deltabase Culture data; Deltabase Workforce data; Deltabase Talent data; Deltabase Employee Turnover data.