Service Certification at Jiffy Lube

By Margery Weinstein

Jiffy Lube depends on the technical skills of its employees to support its customer experience and its full range of preventive maintenance services. The services must be done consistently, correctly, in a team, and at a fast pace. That makes the technical training a key to Jiffy Lube’s success. By policy, stores can’t offer services until employees are certified in that service. For that reason, the certification program is a structured, time-based process.

Employees are certified in the “team positions,” then as Service Specialist and Senior Service Specialist. Stores are evaluated on the percentage of employees certified at each level. For example, 100 percent of the employees must be certified in Orientation & Safety and one position within the first 30 days. Fifty percent of all employees must be certified in the 10 ancillary services that make up the Service Specialist Certificate within the first 180 days.

The certification process follows this path to ensure consistency and accuracy in the services provided to customers:

• E-learning modules teach knowledge and skills. Each module ends with a certification test recorded in Jiffy Lube University (JLU).
• On-the-job training is conducted by store managers following Daily Training and Observation Guides created for each service. Store managers follow a four-step process to coach on the job.
• The Proficiency Exam demonstrates that the employee has mastered both the knowledge and skills of the position. Employees must complete 100 percent of the job without assistance to pass the Proficiency Exam. Store managers enter the results in JLU for certification tracking.

The certification and proficiency data is reported on the Certification Dashboard report in JLU. The Certification Dashboard is a simple yet flexible report used by everyone, from store employees to senior management. Individual employees can review their progress against the time standards. Store managers can monitor their employees’ certification status and ensure their store is meeting the certification criteria.

Franchisee and Jiffy Lube management can monitor stores and areas to identify problems and plan improvement. The Dashboard acts as a common reference point consistently used across all franchise organizations and Jiffy Lube itself.

The Dashboard is both simple and flexible. It starts with a filter page, allowing the report to be customized. The report is easy to understand through the use of color-coded ratings by certification. One glance provides overview information in terms of green, yellow, and red ratings. All green means the person, store, or organization meets certification criteria.

In 2011, a goal of increasing the store certification levels was established for both the JLI District Managers and the JLI Learning team. This goal is part of their annual performance evaluation. The Certification Dashboard is used to monitor progress. Management also can use the Dashboard to compare store certification levels between District Managers to see if they are properly coaching their stores.

In 2010, the Certification program resulted in more than 1 million hours of training and a customer service rating for “well-trained employees” of 92.3 percent based on surveys by outside audit companies. With more employees certified in more services, the average sale per customer is 18 percent above industry averages.

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