Paul Davidson

USA TODAY

Employees of Greek yogurt maker Chobani are getting an unexpected windfall: an ownership stake in the company that could make millionaires of some.

CEO and Founder Hamdi Ulukaya told the company’s 2,000 full-time employees at its Upstate New York plant Tuesday they’ll receive shares worth up to 10% of the company’s value when it goes public or is sold.

“This isn’t a gift,” Ulukaya said in a letter to employees obtained by USA TODAY. “It’s a mutual promise to work together with a shared purpose and responsibility. To continue to create something special and of lasting value.”

On Tuesday morning, every employee received a white packet detailing how many shares they were given based on tenure. Longer-serving employees got more shares.

The average award is estimated to be worth tens of thousands of dollars but for some workers could be valued at more than $1 million.

“How we built this company matters to me, but how we grow it matters even more,” Ulukaya said in the letter.

“I want you not only to be a part of this growth—I want you to be the driving force of it. To share in our success, to be rewarded by it.”

The strategy of giving ownership stakes in a company is an unusual move for the food industry, much more common in the technology sector or other fields that rely on "highly skilled knowledge workers," says Rita McGrath, a professor of management at Columbia Business School.

"Many companies in food are kind of in the commodity business," she says. "They have this theory that people are interchangeable cogs in a big machine. They don’t see the immediate benefit of having really highly engaged people."

McGrath says research shows that having employees who are more engaged can lead to better business performance because they are invested in helping the company achieve growth.

Contributing: Hadley Malcolm