Office not the proper place for physical demonstrations

Dear Miss Manners: I manage a busy office in a large organization that prides itself on its political correctness, among other things.

About two-thirds of our staff is women, who regularly greet each other with hugs, pecks on the cheek or quick shoulder rubs. The camaraderie and team spirit are wonderful to see, but they unfortunately do not extend to the male members of the staff.

Our training about sexual harassment has left male staffers wary of touching anyone, male or female.

This leads to awkward scenes, when, for example, a mixed group arrives for a meeting, the women are all greeted with hugs, and the men get a cursory, “Hi, John.”

I fear that we are actually creating a workplace that is hostile to men with this behavior, and a few of our male staff members have confided feeling this way to me. I have contemplated a “no hugs” rule for everyone, but it seems rather cold and may exceed my authority as the manager of just one part of a large organization.

Any suggestions?

Gentle Reader: That you realize that there is something between hugs and cold. In the context of the workplace, that means requiring professional behavior.

However much female members of your staff love one another (and have you considered how this would affect colleagues they didn’t?), an office is no place for such physical demonstrations, whether or not they meet the definition of sexual harassment.

There would be no question of that if you hired a married couple, but Miss Manners imagines that you still wouldn’t want to have them canoodling on the job.