HUMAN CAPITAL PULSE: LIFE SCIENCES · ISSUE 9 · SEPTEMBER 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.
September put the UK's talent pipeline in the spotlight. The ABPI's Competitiveness Report sees room for 81,300 more pharma jobs by 2035 but warns of a shrinking science graduate base and costly visas. GSK told staff it plans to close its Dresden vaccine plant, and BioSpace counted just 526 biopharma job cuts in August. For HR, the question is shifting from who to let go to who to hire.
Leroy Hall, Deltabase
What happened: The ABPI's 2026 Competitiveness Report, published on 8 September, says the industry has committed an extra £2 billion to the UK since September 2025 and could add up to 81,300 jobs by 2035, taking the workforce to about 200,000. It flags that a Skilled Worker visa costs over £12,000 per person and that 7.97% of UK students graduate in natural sciences, maths and statistics, down from 9.22% in 2020. Chief executive Richard Torbett warned: "this recovery is not yet secure."
The Deltabase lens: Data skills are already scarce in large employers. In Deltabase Talent data, 3.9% of Eli Lilly's workforce hold data science skills, against 2.5% at Novartis, 2.4% at AstraZeneca and 1.9% at GSK.
So what: If the graduate pipeline narrows, the advantage goes to employers that can build skills internally. Plan reskilling alongside recruitment.
What happened: GSK plans to close its vaccine factory in Dresden, Germany, in summer 2027, putting 641 jobs at risk according to the IGBCE union, Medical Dialogues reported on 12 September, citing Reuters. GSK cited falling demand for egg-based flu vaccines and will consolidate production at Ste-Foy in Canada. The union and the plant's works council oppose the closure.
The Deltabase lens: Manufacturing makes up 3.5% of GSK's workforce in Deltabase Workforce data, with a further 2.9% in engineering, maintenance and facilities. GSK's median tenure of 6.4 years in Deltabase Employee Turnover data, the longest of the six peers we track, suggests deep experience is at stake.
So what: Closures with long lead times need a retention plan for the skills you still need until the last batch ships.
What happened: BioSpace reported on 10 September that 12 biopharma companies cut or planned to cut staff in August, affecting 526 employees, down 90% on August 2025 and up from 466 in July. The year-on-year fall was driven largely by CSL's cut of about 4,350 jobs in August 2025.
The Deltabase lens: As cuts ease, career paths become the retention test. Career Progression scores in 2025 ranged from −31.9% at Johnson & Johnson and −32.7% at AstraZeneca to −50.9% at GSK and −60.8% at Bristol Myers Squibb in Deltabase Culture data.
So what: Easing layoffs return some power to employees. Where progression scores are weak, expect experienced people to test the market first.
16.2%: share of Eli Lilly employees with under a year's tenure who hold AI skills, against 9.8% across its whole workforce
| Company | AI skills, all staff | AI skills, joined in last year | Learning & Development NSS 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eli Lilly | 9.8% | 16.2% | +49.3% |
| Novartis | 4.2% | 9.2% | +71.4% |
| GSK | 3.5% | 9.9% | +68.8% |
| AbbVie | 2.9% | 6.4% | +60.7% |
Source: Deltabase Talent data, share of workforce holding AI skills (all staff, and staff with under one year's tenure); Deltabase Culture data, Learning & Development topic, Employee Net Sentiment Score (−100% to +100%), 2025.
Eli Lilly is hiring hard. Deltabase Employee Turnover data shows its headcount up 6.0% between December 2025 and August 2026, with 6,909 hires against 3,500 departures. Its talent profile is markedly more technical than Boehringer Ingelheim's: 6.8% of Lilly staff hold Python skills (BI 2.8%) and 3.9% machine learning skills (BI 1.4%). Culture favours Boehringer Ingelheim, with an overall NSS of +14.0% against +8.4% and Pay & Rewards at +48.5% against +43.6%, though BI's overall score fell 3.9 pts in 2025 while Lilly's rose 3.0 pts.
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Sources: ABPI (8 September 2026); Medical Dialogues, citing Reuters (12 September 2026); BioSpace (10 September 2026); Deltabase Culture data; Deltabase Workforce data; Deltabase Talent data; Deltabase Employee Turnover data.