Olympic organizers are counting on signing up as many as 32,000 volunteers over the next four years, including up to 80 percent of the workers needed to put on the 2002 Winter Games.
The organizing committee, which now has 105 employees on the payroll, is expected to be nearly eight times that size by 2002. Already, the staff is growing fast enough to justify weekly orientation sessions for new employees.But as many as 32,000 more jobs must be filled before, during and after the 2002 Winter Games. So SLOC is counting on Utahns to contribute their time, doing everything from taking tickets to smoothing ski runs.
And although a recent Deseret News poll found that 49 percent of Utahns don't want to be involved with the Olympics, SLOC's vice president of human resources, Ed Eynon, said he's not concerned there won't be enough volunteers.
Eynon predicted SLOC will end up with more volunteers than there are jobs for them, especially during the Olympics. That's when organizers will have to find between 15,000 and 18,000 Utahns willing to work without pay.
In fact, he said he hopes he doesn't end up having to turn people away. "The way I look at it is, there are only 18,000 (volunteer jobs) . . . I worry more about saying no to those who want to participate."
Some may bow out after hearing that organizers want them to be available at least eight hours a day during the entire 17 days of the Olympics, including Saturdays and Sundays.
Eynon acknowledged being expected to work on the Sabbath could be a problem for members of some faiths. But he said he didn't believe it should be seen as a conflict with religious practices.
"We want to be very sensitive to that, but the way I look at it is you're not going to be working, you're hosting, you're serving, you're providing help to guests who come into our area," he said.
SLOC is already discussing the volunteer program with local clergy, Eynon said, stressing that includes many churches as well as the state's predominant faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We're really working hard to take an interfaith approach, where all religions are present," Eynon said. "If we bill this as using the Mormon system or the LDS network, I think we'd really be missing the boat."
The push for diversity in the volunteer work force will extend to other areas of the community as well, he said. Local leaders are being tapped to come up with a list of organizations that could be contacted for help.
Eynon said the volunteer program will be an opportunity for the state to show that it is more diverse than many believe. "People think less of us for not being diverse. That's a bit of a bum rap," he said.
Utahns won't be able to sign up to volunteer during the Games until early 2000. Training sessions won't begin until early 2001. Volunteers will have to be at least 18 years old at Games time and submit to a background check.
The volunteer program will get a trial run later this year, when SLOC releases details of the opportunities available for volunteers before the 2002 Winter Games begin. The date of the announcement is set for mid-November.
There should be about 8,000 slots available between now and 2002, mostly at so-called Olympic test events sponsored by national and international sports organizations.
Eynon envisions building a "farm team" of volunteers from recruits who sign up and successfully perform pre-Games duties. But there's no estimate yet of how many volunteers are likely to come back for the Olympics.
And another 4,000 to 6,000 volunteers are needed for the Paralympics, the international sports competition for disabled athletes, which is scheduled after the Olympics, in March 2002.