July 2019 | Vol. 5 Iss. 07
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Machinery in the CATbird seat
By Jennifer J. Johnson | j.johnson@mycityjournals.com
W
est Valley City-based Wheeler Machinery has been Utah’s Caterpillar or CAT partner for more than 65 years. The 600-person heavy-machinery sales, service and rentals company with offices from Lindon to Logan, from Hurricane to Huntington, and other locations throughout Utah and even Nevada, daily strives to be the safest Caterpillar dealer in North America and to dominate the markets it serves. With a vast fleet of new and rental big machines, Wheeler’s presence is regularly seen by Utahns, alongside freeways or on new construction sites, but, to the general resident it is more of an invisible brand, mainly known by its vertical market customers in agriculture, construction, government, mining and other industries. The nature of its male-dominated business and its reserved, almost intentionally obscured marketing and communication makes it stand out on a list of 30-plus organizations who recently pledged to proactively elevate women in the workplace.
Wheeler and the ElevateHer Challenge
Wheeler Human Resources Generalist Mike Smith stands with a group of organizations as diverse as Lehi’s Adobe and Salt Lake City’s UCAIR, a statewide clean air partnership. On May 20, individuals within these organizations were honored by Utah’s Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) for their willingness to elevate the stature and talents of women in the workplace. Smith bowed his head to accept the ElevateHer Challenge Medal from Salt Lake’s Women’s Leadership Institute. What does his doing so mean to Wheeler? “We recognize that we are in a very male-dominated industry,” Smith said, “and it is not just about what Wheeler is doing—it’s what CAT is doing—to increase diversity and inclusivity.” What Smith is saying is powerful: Deerfield, Illinois-based Caterpillar, the 58th-largest company in the world according to the 2019 Fortune 500 list, raking in $54 billion in revenue — a 20 percent increase from the previous year — is seeking to become more diverse and proactive in supporting women and is encouraging its partners to do so as well.
“Wheeler is in a male-dominated industry… in a very Caucasian-dominated state. We want to get as diverse as we can,” said West Valley-based Wheeler Machinery’s HR Generalist Mike Smith. (Usaid_Images/Flickr)
into “a full-fledged business initiative… (one that) proves its worth in bottom-line results.” CAT experienced what other companies are learning: That encouraging women is not just altruism, but makes good business sense. According to research from the University of California, Davis, business performance of the 400 largest public companies in California shows that companies with women in leadership at the highest levels had returns on assets and equity at least 74 percent higher than those that did not. This all makes profound sense, locally, for Wheeler Machinery, who not only has aggressive growth goals, but also counts on government contracts, which have steadfast requirements about diversity of workforce from its contractors. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) requires that government contractors, like the requirements for large companies under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), ensure diversity in the Taking the women-supporting baton from CAT Corporate workforce. “The Women’s Initiatives Network occupies unusual ter“Wheeler is in a male-dominated industry… in a very ritory at Caterpillar Inc.” Caucasian-dominated state,” Smith said. “We want to get as The sentence comes directly from the Caterpillar web- diverse as we can.” site, as the company explains its role toward promoting womTo hire female diesel mechanics, Smith said the comen moving from being more of a support group for women
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pany vies for talent against CAT competitor Komatsu’s local presence and even from less-obvious organizations like Utah Transit Authority, an organization it only competes against for talent. “UTA has only one or two female diesel mechanics out of hundreds,” he said.
The six-point ElevateHer Challenge
The ElevateHer Challenge is sponsored by WLI, an innovative Utah organization whose mission is to elevate the stature and talents of women. The ElevateHer Corporate Challenge encourages organizations to pledge to elevate the stature of women in six key ways: 1. Increase the percentage of women in senior leadership 2. Increase the retention rate of women at all levels 3. Increase the number of women on board of directors and encourage women to serve on community and corporate boards 4. Monitor pay by gender and close identified gaps 5. Establish-enhance leadership development, mentoring and sponsorship programs for women 6. Urge women to run for public office (City Journals wrote about WLI’s Political Training Series in February)
ElevateHer metrics finds a home at male-dominated
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