Senior staff don’t deserve to fly business, so let’s ditch the work perk

I knew the day was coming when Qantas finally downgraded me from Platinum to Gold. When, I finally noticed that my “status” had taken a hit, I was strangely unmoved.

It was, I imagine, how a recently escaped prisoner might feel if they received the news they were being moved to a smaller cell while they were sipping a cool drink and enjoying their freedom in Rio de Janeiro. See if I care.

It does not make sense why management should get to fly business class while everyday pleb employees are left to languish in economy.Credit: iStock

I quit. Cashed in my chips and spent all my Qantas points so carefully accrued over years of enduring the Friday night commuter flight home, followed by the Sunday evening dash to the airport.

Nearly a million points. I discovered they will get me plus one to the other side of the world but were not enough to get me back again without shelling out serious cold hard cash on top. What’s the point with the points?

Now my points balance has taken a big hit, I feel giddy freedom. I have escaped the token economy of chasing points. I don’t need to pay through the nose for a credit card that promises no earnings cap on points. I am free to play the market and find the best value fare from any airline.

If you want to influence a human’s behaviour, lure them into a token economy. The prospect of points sees us driving the extra mile to the rewards petrol station. We nail our colours to the mast of one supermarket or the other. Websites and blogs are devoted to sharing schemes to maximise our points.

What these work travel policies overlook is the sense of resentment from staff, who are made to feel second rate, and less valued.

This is not rational behaviour, except from the perspective of those running the programs. A 2016 survey from consultants Accenture found that customers in loyalty programs generate 12-18 per cent more revenue for retailers.

Tiered loyalty programs are particularly effective, and seem popular with employers who can use them selectively to reward favoured staff with the prospect of getting enough points to get to Platinum or even higher.

I have never understood the arbitrary travel policies in many organisations, where more senior staff are permitted to travel in business, or even first class, whereas your everyday pleb employee must fly economy.

It does not make sense in terms of productivity, but clearly it makes economic sense to have the majority travel more cheaply, in which case everyone should be flying economy. More senior staff could always use their additional salary to upgrade. Of course the business class flights come with lounge access, and the ultimate, being invited into the Qantas Chairman’s lounge.

What these work travel policies overlook is the sense of resentment from staff, who are made to feel second rate, and less valued. It continues at the destination where executive staff get to stay in fancier hotels than everybody else.

These are nothing more than perks that have no relevance to performance. For all the rhetoric of flat organisations, each of these perks reinforces the hierarchy, and sends a (possibly) inadvertent message that it is position, not performance that gets rewarded. So much for a “culture of excellence” and similar trite value statements.

Even in the absence of formal token economies, they develop in other subtle ways. When I started at UNSW, academics’ offices had Linoleum floors, but lecture rooms had carpet squares.

These squares became the tokens, and were highly prized when they came “on the market” to feather the office nests of academics in the know. Corner offices, corner desks, being on a higher floor, the possibilities for a token economy to take hold are almost infinite.

The problem with perks, is that they are easy to give out, and very difficult to take away from those accustomed to receiving them. However, there is life beyond the perks.

It is liberating to make decisions on one’s own terms, rather than drooling like Pavlov’s dog at the prospect of a little reward. There is life beyond the yellow (or platinum) brick road.

Dr Jim Bright FAPS owns Bright and Associates, a career management consultancy, and is director of evidence & impact at BECOME Education. Email to [e-mail]. Follow him on Twitter @DrJimBright

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