I heard what may have been no more than a rumor, but might be true, and in either event a terrific idea: Back in the mid 1990s, after my part of the company got sold to someone else, I heard that my former employer, which authorized business class for overseas flights of six(?) hours or more, was offering to split the savings with employees who flew economy.
Round trip business class from Tokyo to NYC was maybe about $4K then, with economy maybe $1K. I would have taken that deal.