Credit: via People of Walmart
There’s been quite a stir this morning in reaction to news that Summa has instituted a new dress code policy for its some 9,000 employees. Most notably, at least according to the internet, is a requirement for employees to wear underwear, which doesn’t seem to be really their business at all no matter how you feel about going commando. 

Otherwise, new rules mandate pantyhose or tights for women wearing dresses or skirts, ban facial hair longer than a half inch, visible tattoos, visible piercings (besides two earrings per ear), “extreme” hair coloring, etc. etc.

Summa CEO Dr. Tom Malone spoke to a few hundred people at an Akron Roundtable luncheon today and addressed the policy and its origins.

Via the ABJ:

When asked why the stricter employee dress code is needed, Malone joked: “Have you been to Walmart? People who left the house actually thought they looked good some days.”
“There should be a certain level of professionalism at a health-care institution that is a little higher bar,” he said.

No word on whether that higher bar prefers boxers or briefs.

This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2015.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

7 replies on “Summa CEO Dr. Tom Malone Would Like Employees to Dress Better Than Wal-Mart Shoppers”

  1. Well yeah…Summa is a professional healthcare organization and there should be a level of professionalism that should be expected but obviously has to be addressed…

  2. There is a huge difference between dressing like a “person of walmart” and forcing women to wear panty hose. I’m sorry. I thought he 1950’s came and went??

    Healthcare is a service industry, that treats without judgment. How can a company that refuses to tolerate freedom of personal expression and suppresses diversity in the work place expect employees to serve with opposite standards? Very hypocritical.

  4. come on now this aint the 1950s i agree in professionalism. But tattoos piercings hair color panty hoes. As long as it’s not offensive i dont see a problem and wether or not someone wears undies is no ones business. This man is nuts.

  5. This guy sounds as bizarrely goofy as the new president at the University of Akron…..or whatever that joint is now called.

  6. How about SUMMA paying their employes a decent wage, instead the CEO draws millions but they are financially unable to pay support staff a living wage

  7. This is the same man that chose a Plaid ill-fitting suit jacket with a busy mismatched tie to be photographed in for marketing purposes. Yet he still feels like he’s the authoritarian on how to dress properly. He’s just another arrogant, narrow-minded, micromanager thrust into the spotlight for his fifteen minutes of fame (sixty-five years too late). Referring to himself as a “visionary” while implementing a 1950’s dress code is contradictory to say the least. Taking photos of unsuspecting employees without their permission is the REAL reason we should be keeping an eye on this fellow.

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