PEOPLE & CULTURE PULSE · ISSUE 1 · JANUARY 2026
A monthly benchmark for People & Culture teams: the talking points that matter and how your culture compares, built on Deltabase data covering 5,500+ companies and 11M employee reviews.
Welcome to the first People & Culture Pulse. January brought the first commencement dates for the Employment Rights Act, a Davos dominated by AI and jobs, and a Big Four firm rewriting its job titles. Underneath all three is the same question your people are asking: where do I go from here? The data shows that's where many cultures are weakest.
Leroy Hall, Deltabase
What happened: The Employment Rights Act 2025 is now law, and commencement regulations started to be laid in January. Key dates: on 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay reforms take effect, and paternity leave and unpaid parental leave become day-one rights. From January 2027, there's a six-month qualifying period for unfair dismissal and the compensation cap is removed.
The Deltabase lens: Large frontline employers feel these changes first, and their employees already say they lack a voice. In 2025, the Empowered topic scored −40.7% at Tesco, −37.7% at Sainsbury's and −65.0% at Next.
So what: Compliance is the minimum. Use the policy refresh to show frontline teams their voice is being heard.
What happened: At the World Economic Forum (19–23 January), business leaders framed AI as a driver of jobs and growth. Union leaders warned that workers fear AI because they have little say in how it is rolled out.
The Deltabase lens: Employees' experience of workplace technology varies widely. In 2025, Tech in Workplace scored −26.1% at Tesco and −26.5% at Sainsbury's, compared with +29.5% at Deloitte and +44.9% at Accenture. Frontline workforces are starting AI adoption from a much weaker position.
So what: Before rolling out AI, fix the tools people already complain about.
What happened: Deloitte announced that from 1 June 2026 it will replace the traditional analyst, consultant and manager titles across its US workforce of around 181,500. The new titles are skills-based "job families" with internal levels, which the firm describes as modernising its talent architecture for the AI era.
The Deltabase lens: Career Progression is one of the lowest-scoring Culture Framework topics in UK retail: −46.6% at Tesco, −45.5% at Sainsbury's and −51.2% at John Lewis & Partners in 2025.
So what: A new grading structure only helps if employees can see the path through it.
Pay isn't the problem. Progression is. At Tesco and Sainsbury's, Pay & Rewards scores strongly positive while Career Progression is deeply negative.
| 2025 NSS | Pay & Rewards | Career Progression | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesco | +40.0% | −46.6% | +5.1% |
| Sainsbury's | +45.0% | −45.5% | +0.2% |
| John Lewis & Partners | +24.0% | −51.2% | −7.8% |
| Next | −1.1% | −28.0% | −11.7% |
Source: Deltabase Culture data, Employee Net Sentiment Score (−100% to +100%), calendar year 2025.
The UK's two biggest grocers have similar pay sentiment but different cultures overall. Tesco finished 2025 ahead (+5.1% vs +0.2%) and scores far higher on Collaborative (+66.7% vs +6.3%). But Tesco employees are much more critical of Agility & Bureaucracy (−54.8% vs −16.7%). One culture is warmer, the other moves faster.
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Sources: CIPD, "UK employment law changes in January 2026"; Clyde & Co, "Top 5 recent workplace developments – January 2026"; Fortune (22 January 2026) on Deloitte's job title overhaul; Reuters/Dawn coverage of WEF Davos 2026; Deltabase Culture data.