Beware of the office predator

We are already in the third month of the year, time enough for those who moved to new jobs in January to have settled down. They are no longer asking basic questions about their new employer, the location of various offices or even the canteen.

They have spent time getting to know their new colleagues and as they move up and down the lifts or stairs, the occasional greetings to familiar faces are on the increase.Of course, they have noticed that some colleagues are friendlier than others, always on hand to offer help whenever it is needed.

But behind this willingness to show them the ropes is an ulterior motive: To be the first one to ‘score’ with the new employee before dumping her like a hot potato. Forever hovering like a vulture over these new employees or interns is the office predator.

He is quick to introduce the new staffer to nearby eateries, keen to avoid the canteen around the office where “cheap food” is sold. That is his way of keeping other potentially interested parties at bay. And he is prepared to go to great lengths to impress so don’t be surprised to see him making several visits to the co-op office for a ‘small’ loan. After all, eating out in Nairobi is not cheap.

This is the guy who will quickly offer to fix any problem you may have with your computer settings or programmes. He will make sure he leaves work at the same time as you so the two of you can walk out together, and even offer to walk you to your bus stop. Of course, in between, he will offer coffee while you wait for the traffic to ease.

If you are keen, you will notice that he changes the lunch venues as the month wears on, obviously to slightly cheaper joints. But the gentleman in him comes to the fore and he would rather suffer a little if only to ensure that you are eventually safely under his wings.

But it is not only men who prey on female co-workers. There is also the female employee whose mode of dressing will change immediately a new male colleague comes on the scene. In most cases, unlike the male employee, the female worker will usually target a newcomer who is her senior.

She will make sure her documents always have more signing to be done than anyone else’s – but she never brings them at one go. She will be seen making endless trips to the said senior colleague’s desk or, if it is the boss, she will be an almost permanent fixture in his office with one problem or the other. She believes you – the boss – will not fail to notice her broad smiles and swinging hips.

If you were to ask colleagues who know her, you will be told she has become “quite active” around the office since you came. A closer look at her wardrobe easily reveals a make-over, and shorter skirts now out-number the more modest ‘corporate length’ skirts.

The traditional trend where male bosses target junior female workers or those on internship still persists in corporate bodies and government. But it is the trend where employees target new colleagues at the same level that is worrying human resource experts.

“Those affected most are people on transfer, either from the head office to a smaller station or vice versa,” says Martha Wangari, a consultant with Consumer Holdings Ltd (CHL). Then there are ‘ordinary’ staff members who join the company either in the same capacity or in a different department.

According to Wangari, those who come from abroad on a short stint either on scholarship or exchange programmes are also hot targets. “This is because they come with a mindset to learn as much as possible. When they see someone ready to show them around, they begin their journey to vulnerability and exploitation. The predator capitalises on this thirst to know about the people and culture of the new country,” says Wangari.

A year ago, Jean Broemvich from Canada fell victim to an office predator when she came for a volunteers’ exchange programme at a health institution in Nairobi. “This guy took me to popular joints around the city and I felt happy that I was discovering Kenya first hand and not from those tourist books. Little did I know that his ultimate goal was to be romantically involved with me,” says Broemvich, who left the country last month.

The man was her age-mate and worked as an outreach programme co-coordinator. Broemvich says when she arrived at the institution; the man was introduced to her as “the contact person who will solve all your issues during your stay with us”. “He was very helpful in the office and I always accompanied him for outdoor activities. One day, he invited me for dinner in his house and the rest is history,” she confesses, adding, “The man instantly stopped his advances and I knew I had been beaten on that one.”

But for (Merceline) Wanja, it took a threat to report the matter to her line manager for “her predator” to shift his attentions elsewhere. She joined a health parastatal from the mother ministry early last year. The finance department was quite busy and before she could get her first salary, a colleague was “almost stalking” her.

“We were not working on the same line but he would come to my desk at least three times in a day,” she says. He gave her a good account of the office politics over several lunches, warning her to keep off certain people if she wanted to last in the company.

“We would go for tea and lunch at the canteen together. Every day after work, he would escort me to the matatu terminus even if he hadn’t finished his work. He would then go back to the office to finish his work. It wasn’t until much later that I realised this was all a ploy on his part to keep me away from other colleagues until he had scored with me,” she says.

Wanja wondered why the man never seemed to have other friends around the office. Later, she learnt that nobody in the office wanted to be associated with him. “He was a known womaniser and had a reputation for flirting with every woman he came across. On several occasions, he had been reprimanded for blackmailing female clients who came to pay their bills,” she says.

In the second month, Wanja says he changed tack and became a “mail maniac”. When not sending funny emails replete with sexual innuendo, her would bombard her with romantic short text messages that sometimes bordered on the naughty. “I would get very upset but I did not have the guts to reprimand him,” she reveals.

By Valentine’s Day last year, the overtures had reached their peak. The man bought her beautiful flowers, which he had delivered to the office. He did not sign his name but apparently, everyone knew they were from him. “This was not the first time he was doing this and those around me were watching to see how all this would end.”

Wanja agreed to go out with him and before long, they were dating. It was, however, short-lived because it soon became apparent that all he wanted was to take her to bed. “He started pestering me about it so I decided to back off since I was not ready for an intimate relationship.”

Although the man kept inviting her out to intimate dinners and bombarding her with ‘funny’ messages, she realised she had been the butt of jokes around the office for a long time as other colleagues waited to see how long it would take before he dropped her once he had achieved his objective. “That’s when I decided to end the relationship. Unfortunately, I was already tainted.”

HR experts acknowledge the dilemma new employees face when drawing the line between work-related interaction and romance-related association. “It is not easy but with strong personal skills, it is possible to recognize when the direction of a friendship has ceased to be work-related,” says Wangari.

She adds that new staff want to use the already existing team to quickly adapt to the new environment so it is very easy to mix up the two boundaries. Andrew Tanui of Andyna Company Ltd, a research and consultancy firm, offers some tips on how to detect colleagues who could be “up to no good”. “It begins when you receive invitations to their offices or to meetings where no work-related issues are discussed. This is an indicator that they are inviting you more for social rather than professional reasons,” says Tanui.

Back to the old way of doing things, tea, coffee or, worse, drinks after office hours or during weekends is a danger sign, and especially if you have been receiving many forwarded email messages or texts that have sexual orientations.

“If the person pursuing you is senior,” Tanui says, “they tend to give you assignments and request reports to be presented to them between 4 pm and 5 pm or after office hours, yet the same could have been done during the day or could wait till the following day. This tactic also includes invitations to the office over the weekends when there isn’t any work to be done, or the work being referred to could have waited until the following week. When this happens, it is always better to err on the side of caution”, he advises.

“Other requests involve the ‘victim’ being asked to drop off official documents that have ostensibly been forgotten in the office to an exclusive venue like a restaurant or club. The predator will use this opportunity to pursue his or her objective,” cautions the expert.

Employees should also be wary of being chosen to attend functions not related to their day-to-day responsibilities in the office. “These trips have been used as a platform for sexual overtures away from the glare of fellow colleagues,” warns Tanui. “You are within your rights to decline invitations to go to the office on weekends if company policy does not require working over the weekend.”

To manage such situations, Wangari advises new employees to set clear boundaries by letting colleagues know quite early what is acceptable to them and what is not. “There are people in the office who will not allow a hug or embrace while others will go to an extent of walking around holding hands. Be clear on the limits of physical contact that you are comfortable with,” she says.

Many firms now have guidelines that protect employees from sexual harassment but employees sometimes ignore these guidelines for fear of victimisation. “The Employment Act 2007 requires employers with more than 20 employees to formulate a policy on sexual harassment,” says lawyer Robert Asembo.

Among the provisions of the Act is the definition of sexual harassment, assurance of a sexual-harassment-free environment and an assurance that action will be taken to ensure such harassment does not occur. “No employee should be afraid to refuse unwelcome sexual overtures from colleagues or bosses as they are protected by the law,” says Asembo.

Tanui says one method employers can use to curb this menace is to introduce anonymous “hotmails” for reporting sexual harassment. “Employers should also make clear the organisation’s policy on the use of emails as this is the one method harassers use to propagate such overtures,” says Tanui.

bmuiruri@nation.co.ke