Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a bonus, esp. that which comes with a job; usu. in pl.

1874		J. Greenwood Wilds of London (1881) 118: She [...] earns her eighteenpence a day and her ‘perks,’ which is a handy abbreviation of ‘perquisites’.
1881		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Mar. 4/3: A leading undertaker writes, assuring us that he never allows any of his men to appropriate the gold tooth-plates of the defunct as perqs.
1882		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 23 Dec. 2/2: Detectives must have some protection and privileges [...] not to mention the ‘perks’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Mar. 6/4: As the Victorian financial year does not close until the 30th June next, Mrs. Sherrit-Murphy will continue to draw her little ‘perks’ till then, after which the Cabbage Garden coffers will be enriched to the extent of £50 per annum.
1890		‘’Arry on Equality’ in Punch 22 Feb. 85/2: Poor pilgarlicks whose forbears was honest rich perks carn’t expect to enjoy.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 23 Aug. 4/2: [He] went for what the lawyersd call their ‘perks’.
1901		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 July 12/3: They sigh for the days when Byron Moore was boss of the Exchange, and among the perqs. of office was a nice hot dinner for the artless little things.
1906		E. Dyson Fact’ry ’Ands 98: I got me reward aside from ther pickin’s, which was all perks.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Nov. 7/4: The ‘tote’ rooks in another way. Fractions of sixpences are not paid out in the dividend, and the odd pence is a ‘perk’ to the machine.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 256: His ‘perks’ were pretty profitable.
1941		B. Miller Farewell Leicester Square (2000) 109: Alec Berman has hundreds of the loveliest women in England at his beck and call – one of the perqs of being a director.
1964		P. Larkin ‘Self’s the Man’ in Whitsun Weddings 24: The money he gets for wasting his life on work / She takes as her perk.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 11: Perks were part of the profession.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 223: The average Third World wide-boy expects the odd perk.
1998		G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 210: Everybody did their little perks at the factory.
2001		Source Aug. 47: Special perks like a generous per diem, free concerts and award show tickets.
2014		C.T. McNeely ‘Assisted Living’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] Whoever was with Chuck always got the same perks he did.
2017		A. Parks Bloody January 115: ‘So you’re going to some high-class brothel while I give a single-end in Royston the once-over?’ ‘Them’s the perks’.
2022		S. Weinman Scoundrel 43: [I]t was less a chance to eat all the ham and eggs he desired—though that was certainly a perk—than it was to hear his father speak.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 916: Other perks include sophisticated conversation with fine minds.