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> Like a lot of things, I think beer is fine if you're adult about it. There are a very long list of things that are typically prohibited at work that would be
by bradleyland 13y ago
> Like a lot of things, I think beer is fine if you're adult about it.
There are a very long list of things that are typically prohibited at work that would be fine "if you're an adult about it." There's a crossover point at which the population of workers becomes large enough that it is difficult or impossible to impose the "be an adult" requirement. The arbiters of responsibility cannot be within reach of all behavior, and thus we mitigate the opportunity for irresponsibly by removing factors that contribute to irresponsible behavior.
I'm of mixed opinion on it. I don't like the idea of saying "this is fine for one organization, but not for another", but that's kind of the reality. If the focus of your business is building a business, you have to sit down and evaluate how the presence of alcohol in the workplace serves that goal (or detracts from it). Yes, it may be a very valuable perk to some employees, but it also has the potential to be a big problem. Even moderate consumption (I know you're not advocating this) is known to alter judgement and lower inhibition.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nmcfarl 13y agoI think people need to say "this is fine for one organization, but not for another". Or one person and not another. One houseplant and not another. American society is overly fond of one size fits all rules - that on one hand end up with adults being treated like children, and the dumbing down of culture and a restricting oeveryone's rights to protect the few from bad decisions - and on the other hand end up with overwatered cacti and tons of other kinds of shoddy work practices, and resulting products, because of a culture of not thinking just following the rules. Neither of these problems are overwhelming - but fighting back with a realistic view of the world is simple, and effective at avoiding a whole mess of problems.
- bradleyland 13y agoI like that notion. I've always felt unfair using different determinations for different groups, but the way you've expressed it is very much like how we handle this kind of thing in our organization. We like to say, "it's not a problem until it becomes a problem." It provides a nice incentive as well. Don't like verbose, restrictive policies? Then everyone do their best not to be an asshole and we won't have to use them.