Summa Health’s female employees can toss their pantyhose and set their toes free in open-toed shoes at work.
And all employees can uncover tattoos, except facial tattoos or those containing profanity or other offensive images.
The health system on Wednesday issued a memo relaxing several parts of a controversial dress code imposed nearly two years ago by the previous hospital administration.
At the time, Summa officials said the dress code was updated to boost professionalism and safety. Then Summa President and CEO Dr. Tom Malone also got himself into hot water when he knocked Wal-Mart shoppers in front of a large Akron Roundtable crowd when asked why a stricter dress code was needed.
At the time, many Summa employees said it was unfair. One female employee said “it just reinforces the misogynistic attitude that women’s bodies are dangerous and must be concealed. Even the nuns that work in our affiliated hospitals are wearing sandals and capris.”
In the memo issued Wednesday, Summa Senior Vice President of Human Resources Lorraine W. Washington outlined the following updated rules for the health system’s 8,000 employees:
• Hosiery will no longer be required with dresses or skirts.
• Professional capri pants are permitted.
• Open toe/peep toe shoes are permitted.
• Tattoos may remain uncovered (with the exception of facial tattoos or tattoos containing profanity or other offensive images).
• Nose piercings (small studs only) are permitted.
• Summa Health branded fleeces are permitted.
The changes are effective immediately.
“Recently, our Human Resources team assembled a focus group of Summa Health employees from across the system to collect feedback on our organization’s dress code policy,” Washington said in the memo. “As always the purpose of our dress code is to ensure all Summa Health employees maintain a professional appearance when interacting with our patients and the community. I trust you’ll continue to apply these guidelines and your best judgement [sic] to determine what is and is not appropriate for your specific work environment and the safety of our patients.”
The committee consisted of 30 employees from various locations and levels within the system.
Two parts of the controversial dress code change enacted in 2015 were not changed, including restrictions on hair color and facial hair.
The policy says:
• Hair should be clean, neat and of natural hair color (black, brown, blonde, auburn, chestnut, red, gray and white). If the hair color can be grown naturally, it can be worn.
• Facial hair is to be groomed and maintained, not to conflict with safety standards.
“Keep in mind that facial hair is a safety issue in medical settings,” Summa spokesman Rob Whitehouse said. “Employees must be able to be properly fitted for safety gear, and sometimes facial hair inhibits the ability do so.”
The changes come a little more than two months after Dr. Cliff Deveny started as Summa interim CEO. In an interview this month, Deveny acknowledged that he knew the dress code implemented by Malone was controversial and that he had heard a lot about it from employees during meetings.
Dr. John Zografakis, president of the medical staff, said the dress code change indicates that Deveny was listening.
Whitehouse said another dress-code-related policy requiring nurses and other direct-care providers to wear color-specific scrubs is not being changed. The policy, which also started in 2015 under Malone, was reviewed at the time by the Summa Health Nurse Practice Council and the council “agreed that consistent colored scrubs is good for patients and co-workers to identify nurses.” No re-evaluation of the practice is being planned, he said.
Registered nurses wear black scrub tops and bottoms; non-RN/LPNs wear solid color Caribbean blue. Some nurses and patients said they didn’t like the black scrub color choice in particular, feeling that nurses could look like “angels of death.”
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ.