NEW BERLIN – Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Chobani Hamdi Ulukaya stopped in to their plant in New Berlin on Wednesday morning to make two announcements directly to the employees of Chobani.

About 200 workers from the New Berlin and Norwich plants were present for the announcements where Ulukaya introduced a new extended parental paid leave policy for employees of Chobani.

Beginning on January 1, 2017, all full-time employees, mothers and fathers alike, will receive six weeks of 100 percent paid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child.

“The most critical and valuable investment we can give our children for their future is the time we spend with them. Nothing else,” Ulukaya said during his address to the company. “They don't care how you live, how much money you have, what kind of car you drive, or what you look like. It doesn't matter. What matters the most is this human connection between parent and child. And it would be the saddest thing to not be with them because you have to go to work. And that stops now.”

In a letter to the employees of Chobani, Ulukaya said that being a new father himself is what opened up his eyes to the fact that the vast majority of companies, especially in manufacturing, don't have benefits for parents who've just had a child.

“How do you go and still work when you have a new baby at home? It's just impossible. I had no idea about this until I had this baby. This is the most beautiful thing you can have in the whole universe, so how do you go to work?” Ulukaya said. “We will cherish this, so you do the same thing. I encourage every one of you to take advantage of this. We love when you care about your family, because in the end, we are all family here.”