Oh, what's that? You want to know about friend's work ethic? I want to know about what your company says about “loyalty.” You wanna know how often buddy gets sick? I wanna know what you're going to do if/when that happens.
I've been having friends put me down as a reference for years and no one has called me… but the minute it happens, you better believe I'll be doing a little cross-examination of my own to make sure my guys not walking into a slice o' hell. I'm not letting that happen to any friend-buddy-guy in my life.
Seriously though – is this a viable way to put pressure on company's to do better?