I think in some cases it means something more akin to "it'd be fun to hang out with this person in a social setting". I've had plenty of good co-workers where that wasn't really the case and selecting for it is a mistake.
Not to mention there's a pretty broad range of behaviors that probably don't make someone an asshole, but may or may not work at different companies.
Things like valuing collaboration, how blunt feedback is during code reviews, whether tech leads coaching and spending time developing junior colleagues is valued or viewed as wasted time, how open a company is with finances, where company events are on the continuum between a couple glasses of wine vs kegs of beers where people get wasted, etc.
> where company events are on the continuum between a couple glasses of wine vs kegs of beers where people get wasted, etc.
This should have zero bearing on hiring people. How much they drink is their own business as long as they don't get rowdy or harass colleagues or something.
Among other things, are you going to, say, not hire someone who's LDS because they don't drink at all?