TBAYLX referred to wider eligibility tickets and buddies in the same sentence. He also stated that effectively there are no buddy passes.
Wider eligibility is designed for the likes of your favorite aunts/uncles, sister-in-law etc. You can be very sure that unless your best buddy is related in some way, then wider eligibility will not apply to them.
Staff travel in EK is very different and probably more expensive than other airlines (read US). But at least the airline will still be around to carry you, flies (in my case) to where I need to go and my family and I get to travel in the sharp end.
In my situation, EK provide one of the best staff travel packages going.