[xoxoxoBruce]

Your cow orkers are not your friends.

But I think there's a better alternative: Don't hug people at work, because hugs are usually not appropriate in the workplace. In fact, much — if not all — of the marginal behavior that has these men worried about misunderstanding is suited more to friendship or family than the office. Outside of exceptional circumstances, it is too informal for work.

Unless you work with your actual sister, your office environment should not be one "where you just treat everybody the way you'd want them to treat your sister." Give coworkers the respect your sister deserves, yes, but not the familiarity. Work is (or rather, should be) a more formal place where the line these men worry they have unwittingly crossed is big and bright, not nebulous and dependent on personal preference.