HUMAN CAPITAL PULSE: LIFE SCIENCES · ISSUE 5 · MAY 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.
May showed AI moving from strategy to headcount. Sanofi committed to 50 more AI roles in Toronto, Novartis announced a German plant closure, and the FT's UK Best Employers list put AstraZeneca top among pharma companies. The common thread is skills: who has them, who is being hired for them and whether employees feel the tools help. Our data shows new joiners bringing far more AI skills than the established workforce.
Leroy Hall, Deltabase
What happened: Sanofi is investing $294m to expand its AI Centre of Excellence in Toronto, creating 50 high-skilled AI and machine learning jobs by 2028, on top of more than 150 roles since the centre opened in 2022. Its Chief Digital Officer said AI is "woven into the fabric" of how Sanofi discovers, develops, produces and launches therapies.
The Deltabase lens: Talent: Hiring is already shifting Sanofi's skills mix: 13.9% of employees with under a year's tenure list AI skills, against 4.5% across the workforce. Culture: Employee views of workplace technology have not kept pace, with Sanofi's Tech in Workplace NSS falling from +6.4% to −7.3% in 2025.
So what: Hiring AI specialists is the easy part; employees need to feel the tools make their work better.
What happened: Novartis plans to close its solid oral dosage production site in Wehr, Germany, by the end of 2028, affecting around 220 jobs. The company says supply will not be affected.
The Deltabase lens: Workforce: Manufacturing roles make up 2.0% of Novartis's 88,500-strong workforce and Operations 7.1%. Culture: Novartis has a strong base for reskilling: its Learning & Development NSS rose 19.5 pts to +71.4% in 2025, the highest among ten Life Sciences Top 100 peers.
So what: Long notice periods are a reskilling opportunity; use them to move people into growth roles, not just to manage exits.
What happened: In the Financial Times and Statista UK's Best Employers 2026 ranking, based on a survey of about 20,000 employees, AstraZeneca was the highest-placed drugs and biotechnology employer at 37th, followed by GSK (71st) and Johnson & Johnson (115th).
The Deltabase lens: Culture: Deltabase review data orders the three differently: Johnson & Johnson's overall NSS was +12.0% in 2025, AstraZeneca's +10.4% and GSK's +9.5%. Workforce: The two UK majors differ in shape: Healthcare Operations roles make up 12.2% of AstraZeneca's workforce, while GSK has 3.5% in Manufacturing against 1.9% at AstraZeneca.
So what: Employer rankings and review sentiment measure different things; use both before you claim a culture advantage.
16.2%: share of Eli Lilly employees with under a year's tenure who list AI skills, the highest among ten Life Sciences Top 100 peers, against 9.8% across its whole workforce.
| Company | Talent: % with AI skills (all) | Talent: % with AI skills (under 1 year) | Culture: Tech in Workplace NSS 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eli Lilly | 9.8% | 16.2% | −33.3% |
| Pfizer | 4.5% | 15.1% | +29.4% |
| Sanofi | 4.5% | 13.9% | −7.3% |
| AstraZeneca | 4.5% | 10.2% | −5.9% |
| GSK | 3.5% | 9.9% | −8.6% |
| Johnson & Johnson | 1.2% | 9.2% | −20.0% |
Source: Deltabase Talent data, share of workforce listing artificial intelligence skills, overall and among employees with less than one year's tenure; Deltabase Culture data, Employee Net Sentiment Score (−100% to +100%), 2025.
Two different AI stories. On Talent, 6.5% of Bristol Myers Squibb's people list AI skills (13.7% of new joiners), with 4.8% listing Python, against 3.5% (9.7%) and 2.8% at Boehringer Ingelheim. On Culture, BMS's Tech in Workplace NSS rose 29.2 pts to +6.7% in 2025, the biggest gain among the ten peers, while Boehringer's fell 44.9 pts to −27.3%, the biggest fall. Boehringer still has the stronger culture overall (+14.0% against +3.1%, 523 and 535 reviews) and the highest Work-Life Balance score in the peer set (+34.5%). On Workforce, headcount changed +2.8% at Boehringer and −1.3% at BMS between April 2025 and April 2026, and average monthly turnover in January–April 2026 was 0.6% and 0.9%.
See how your Human Capital compares with your Life Sciences peers. Book a 30-minute benchmark walkthrough across culture, workforce and talent. Book a walkthrough →
Sources: Sanofi Canada (4 May 2026); Xtalks layoffs tracker (entry dated 5 May 2026); Xtalks, citing Financial Times and Statista (27 May 2026); Deltabase Culture data; Deltabase Workforce data; Deltabase Talent data; Deltabase Employee Turnover data.