What you have there is a Ponytail palm. Its not by any means a Bonsai but stores will forever try to sell them as such. Looks like the plant has on the dreaded glued on rocks of death on the soil. I would remove these immediately as they prevent the soil becoming evenly wet when watered as well as prevent the soil from being able to dry evenly and properly. Both can cause the plant to get root problems and die. If your colleague like the look he or she can acquire some gravel for fish tanks or otherwise to place over the soil for same aesthetic purpose.

On another note I don't know how well this plant will do in an office setting if that is indeed where it is. This plant will most likely slowly degrade due to lack of light. It is possible though if a small desktop grow light (full spectrum light) was purchased to put it under. Hope this helps and good luck.

-Mike