What is your policy on Nerf Guns being used at work?

I thought this was a short lived American fad from 3 or 4 years ago. Perfect for those who want to discover their inner Rambo but for every ecstatic 20 something (predominately) male employee there are many more who equally dislike it.

My view is this, firms like to do these things because they feel it makes them a 'cool' employer when most of the time it is really just using cliched juvenile games. Of course, some firms will see horse play as the very cutting edge of coolness but in 99% of the time, those who try to be cool end up by looking silly

As an alternative view, I work in a late stage tech start up and we have a large box of nerf guns which are regularly used at all levels of the business. They were here pre-HR and they are part of the culture, along with other quirky things.

The employees enjoy them and occasionally break out in an inter-departmental nerf gun fight - but that is part of our culture. The issue we have, as many other start-ups, is attracting and keeping talent in an environment where salaries aren't always the highest, benefits are limited, and you're fighting with the large well known tech companies to attract good people, so the business seeks to find other ways to encourage people to want to work for them - and it seems to work for us.

It is a risk having nerf guns in the office but the business are aware of those risks and have chosen to accept them, and (so far!) I've had no complaints.

Thanks for sharing your experience Sarah.

Can't help thinking: 'But if ALL tech start-ups have nerf guns'... what's the difference?

Are the accepted risks written down anywhere?

An interesting article www.cracked.com/.../ A minor note, this article is 4 years old

Being "boring" and HR just conduct a risk assessment, mitigate the risks and allow the boys to have fun?

I am not sure of any documented example of someone being injured in a workplace by a nerf gun incident. I can see the theoretical risks but in reality if we allow 10 year old boys to play with them unsupervised do we really think the risks are huge?

Would I want to work in such an environment - certainly not. Can I see why some people do - well kind off I guess.

Good point - but hopefully it's a collection of quirks which make us different.

We haven't documented the risks anywhere, we're too busy trying to avoid the foam bullets ;-)

Thank you Sarah. Do you think things would change if you recieved a complaint? What steps would you take to give people of different view points a voice and opportunity to find an workable / acceptable solution. How do we encourage workplace diversity when an accepted culture can leave people feeling out of step?'

Angela
Surely though it is up to an employer to try and create a culture that is fitting for their organisation and the type of candidates that they are trying to attract. Otherwise all we end up doing is creating identikit cultures and organisations?

Is it really a workplace diversity issue or an issue of diverse workspaces?

Vive le difference!

Hi Steven thank you for taking the time to share this I appreciate it.

Hi Angela,

If we received a complaint we certainly would review and carefully consider it. I think it depends on the environment you work in. For us, we're open and encourage individuals to have a voice and we also encourage people to have fun at work. Not everyone uses the nerf guns - myself included - but it's generally understood if someone doesn't want to get involved then they are not 'targeted'.