Perk or incentive? Anyway, bye-bye

NEW YORK, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The economic downturn and harsh criticism is putting the brakes on lavish company trips, including perks once part of incentive policies, experts say.

Paul Herbert of i2i, a company that helps other companies create incentive strategies for employees, said perks may rebound in the next few years. Currently, however, "the days of having Celine Dion singing at your final night banquet may be over," he told USA Today.

Some have been outraged by perks that appear to be funded by taxpayer dollars.

"You can't have one hand out begging for money and the next thing you do is go on some junket, when the people whose money you're using are losing their homes," U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., told USA Today.

Others complain they are losing incentives that were so routine they were considered part of an annual compensation package.

"It was really great for my salespeople," said insurance agency owner Bob McAfee of Massillon, Ohio.

He told USA Today that sales personnel earn about $75,000 to $125,000 a year but "they really did try to write the necessary new business to qualify for these trips," he said.

Top sales personnel at McAfee's company earned trips to Switzerland, Mexico, England and Hawaii, the newspaper said.