To the Max – Achieving Success in the 2023 Technician Excellence Program

GM dealership service technicians enrolled in the 2023 Technician Excellence Program (U.S.) are recognized and rewarded quarterly for achieving Gold Certification, Master Technician Certification (MTC), or World Class Technician (WCT) status, as well as meeting other required training and service criteria. (Fig. 1) Enrolled technicians can earn quarterly earnPOWER points based on their certifications across 11 service categories. As the first quarter is drawing to a close, here are a few items to track in order to achieve more certifications and, as a result, earn more rewards.

 

Fig. 1

 

Award Criteria

In order to qualify for earnPOWER points, enrolled technicians must meet the following requirements:

• Must meet training requirements of Gold, Master Technician Certified (MTC), or World Class Technician (WTC). New STS training courses can be added by the Center of Learning and need to be completed prior to the end of each quarter.
• Must complete a minimum of 25 warranty repair orders (RO) per quarter to qualify for rewards. Each enrolled technician’s current count can be viewed on the Technician Excellence Dashboard, which is updated weekly. Eligible ROs include those with a technician’s GM Identification Number (GMIN) paid through Global Warranty Management (GWM) that include a Warranty, Policy, Dealer-Installed Parts Warranty, Field Action, or PDI add-on (e.g., dealer-installed accessory) line. The RO is counted when the RO is submitted to GWM by your dealership, not the date of the RO or when the repair was completed. World Class Technicians are exempt from the repair order count qualifier.
• Must show 100% trained in Emerging Issues at the end of each quarter.
• Must show 100% in Fundamentals at the end of the quarter.

Stay on Track

Service technicians enrolled in the Technician Excellence Program by their dealership received a confirmation email from Program Headquarters. To monitor your progress toward achieving Gold, MTC and WCT Certifications, use the GM Excellence Executive Dashboard found in the GlobalConnect App Center. (Fig. 20

 

Fig. 2

 

The Dashboard includes technicians’ progress and earning potential for each certification as well as indicates if they’ve met the qualifiers of the minimum 25 RO count and 100% completion in Emerging Issues and Fundamentals. The RO count is updated weekly.

Job aids that cover all the details about each enrolled technician as well as the dealership service department team covered on the GM Excellence Executive Dashboard are available. (Fig. 3) The job aids can be accessed on the Service Technician Training, Recruiting, Retention and Recognition App on GlobalConnect or by clicking the Service Ops link on the TechLink home page. Select the Technician Recruiting, Retention & Recognition tab > Technician Excellence Program to view the job aid.

 

Fig. 3

 

Training Requirements

Fundamentals courses must be at 100% by the end of each quarter. By design, all Fundamentals courses are web- or video-based and can be completed in-house. They are an important first step in each technician’s training plan and are required for any technician to reach Gold Certification.

In addition, Emerging Issues Seminars must be at 100% at the end of each quarter, which means that course credit has been applied for viewing the applicable Emerging Issues Seminars for each quarter.

If any ASE Certification or Renewal is required to achieve/maintain Gold Certification, it must be completed by the end of each quarter. Use the myASE Renewal App, or go to www.ASE.com/GM to find available dates and times for an ASE Certification test if needed.

Technicians can view their training progress toward certification, including which required courses still need to be completed, on the Center of Learning website. Technicians may not be up to date on Fundamentals, Emerging Issues, and/or ASE certifications even though Master Technician Certification (MTC) or World Class Certification (WCT) status is shown on the Center of Learning.

TIP: Be sure to confirm your email is up to date in the Center of Learning.

earnPOWER and My GM Rewards Points

Technicians who meet the qualifiers will receive earnPOWER points each quarter based their highest level of certification:

• Gold Certification – Earn up to 500 earnPOWER points per quarter.
• Master Technician Certification – Earn up to 1,000 earnPOWER points per quarter.
• World Class Certification – Earn up to 1,500 earnPOWER points per quarter.
• In addition, technicians who are World Class Technician-certified and current on all training will earn 250,000 My GM Rewards points (valued at $2,500) annually.

Points can be applied toward a number of options, including certified service, parts, accessories or an eligible, new GM vehicle purchase or lease. My GM Rewards points are not stackable with the Dealership Employee Discount on a new vehicle purchase, although a negotiated purchase may provide satisfactory savings, especially after the first year. Member enrollment is required to receive points and all World Class Technicians within My GM Rewards are classified as “Silver” status upon account activation in the program. Refer to the program guidelines for complete details.

At the conclusion of each quarter, all program criteria is reviewed to ensure all quarterly requirements have been met. With this information, GM Program Headquarters determines participating dealers’ service technicians’ qualifications for the quarter.

Quarter	Quarterly Dates	Estimated Issuance Date
Quarter 1, 2023	January 4, 2023 – March 31, 2023	July 2023
Quarter 2, 2023	April 1, 2023 – June 30, 2023	October 2023
Quarter 3, 2023	July 1, 2023 – October 2, 2023	January 2024
Quarter 4, 2023	October 3, 2023 – January 2, 2024	April 2024

 

World Class My GM Rewards Timing Eligible participating dealers’ World Class Technicians with a validated My GM Rewards account who have met the quarterly training requirements will receive the annual My GM Rewards points according to the schedule below.

Quarter	Quarterly Dates	Estimated Issuance Date
Quarter 1, 2023	January 4, 2023 – March 31, 2023	April 2023
Quarter 2, 2023	April 1, 2023 – June 30, 2023	July 2023
Quarter 3, 2023	July 1, 2023 – October 2, 2023	October 2023
Quarter 4, 2023	October 3, 2023 – January 2, 2024	January 2024

TIP: Technicians can verify that their earnPOWER account is fully set up by looking for the green check mark.

Latest Guidelines and FAQs

The 2023 Technician Excellence Program Guidelines is accessible via the Technician Excellence Dashboard. Select “Guidelines” in the menu on the Dashboard. It includes additional information as well as answers to frequently asked questions.

For more information about the Technician Excellence Program as well as training opportunities in your dealership, talk with your dealership service manager.

– Thanks to Patti Marino