I think her point is not "everyone goes on a raging bender" her point is more...if one person, one time, goes on a raging bender... was the tradeoff worth it.
The answer of course is ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!
Culture decisions should be in the best interests of everyone in the office. If you have one recovering alcoholic in the office, or one person who might act irresponsibly...
This little harmless perk becomes a massive liability, and more importantly...is completely unnecessary and possibly inappropriate.
If that's the point, then it is moot. If one person, one time, goes on a raging bender, then they probably would have done so regardless. It's an individual and rare issue which should be judged independently of the whole.
We're not children, we're adults. Generally people know how to drink responsibly, if they choose to drink at all, and while I'm aware that there are a very large number of people who do not they are still very much a minority, else there would be pandemonium in the streets every time a liquor store comes to town.
As others here have already pointed out, if you go to a lawyer and ask for an enumerated list of everything in your office that could become a "massive liability" then you'll probably decide to just shutter the doors before the list is even half completed.
Stop applying unfounded "what if" morals to a perfectly legal and benign office perk. Trying to act in the "best interests of everyone" will ultimately serve no one, your office will end up being another cookie cutter cubicle farm that the legal department has determined is the statistically least likely (but not entirely!) to cause problems and all your talent will eventually get tired and move on to greener pastures.
Interesting aspect i'd never thought of. When you haven't working in (or with) HR before I guess you might not think of things like recovering alcoholics - or even company liability.
It seems a lot of startups ignore these issues for a hope of garnering another scoop from the talent pool.
Culture decisions should be in the best interests of everyone in the office. If you have one recovering alcoholic in the office, or one person who might act irresponsibly...
This little harmless perk becomes a massive liability, and more importantly...is completely unnecessary and possibly inappropriate.