It doesn’t matter if you’re the President of the United States—work should never come before family, former U.S. President Joe Biden told a crowd of thousands at SHRM25, a human resources conference in San Diego.
Biden took the stage with SHRM CEO and President Johnny C. Taylor to discuss the former president’s legacy and his thoughts on the workplace. Chiefly, Biden expressed support for maintaining work-life balance—and how managers need to lead by example.
“We try to separate people into categories, their work and their family,” Biden said. “We say, ‘it’s business, it’s not personal.’ But real leadership is all about getting personal.”
When managing his own staff—whether as a Delaware senator, U.S. vice president, or as president—Biden said he made it a policy that employees could leave work for special family milestones, like anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, religious ceremonies and other special events.
“I told them if I found out they’re working with me while missing an important family responsibility, it will disappoint me greatly,” Biden said.
Biden made sure to follow his own policy. When his daughter, Ashley, turned 8 years old, Biden was a Delaware senator. She really wanted to celebrate her birthday with him, so Biden took the train from Washington, D.C. to Delaware. Waiting on the platform were Ashley and Biden’s wife, Jill, with a birthday cake and candles. At the station, Biden was able to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Ashley while she blew out her candles. Then he caught the next train back to D.C. for an important Congressional vote.
“Was it worth it? More than I could have ever imagined,” Biden said. “It’s important to show up for family.”
During the fireside chat, Biden recalled a time as vice president when he had to excuse himself from a meeting with then-President Barack Obama and another unnamed world leader. His daughter called because she just had a traumatic experience in an elevator in Chicago—the cable broke and the car fell a few stories. She was uninjured, but she wanted to talk to her dad, Biden said.
“Unless they say ‘it’s not important,’ I always tell my staff to put through calls from my family, no matter what I’m doing,” Biden said. “Barack understood that—he’s a hell of a guy and a good friend.”
Obama’s empathy during that phone call illustrates one of many reasons they had a good working relationship, Biden said. No one is too busy to show their staff empathy, not even the President of the United States, who is the “chief people officer of the country,” Biden said.
When Taylor asked him what he’d most like to be remembered for, Biden said being “a good father.” Biden reminded the conference of human resources professionals that the people who matter most to their employees are not at the office—it’s their family. And if companies want good work and great results, they need to take an interest in—or at least be empathetic about—their employees’ personal lives.
“The people who work with you need to know to the extent you care about them—not just what they do for you—but about them, about their families, about their circumstances,” Biden said. “I believe that’s how you build teams that are willing to give their all for you.”
📸 President @JoeBiden delivered the keynote today at #SHRM25 in San Diego, followed by a thoughtful Q&A. He left to rousing applause from HR pros across the country.
— Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) July 2, 2025
But according to Tapper and Thompson? This man was supposed to be in a wheelchair and incoherent by now.
What… https://t.co/X2gB0hq0Mz pic.twitter.com/DaCpBhTidD
🚨 NEW: President @JoeBiden just got a standing ovation to close out his speech at #SHRM25.
— Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) July 2, 2025
SHRM President @JohnnyCTaylorJr revealed Biden’s plane spent 4 hours on the tarmac yesterday trying to leave for San Diego — but 46 still made it.
The more time passes, the clearer it… pic.twitter.com/yhryBfddQv