diff --git a/hecl/include/hecl/ClientProcess.hpp b/hecl/include/hecl/ClientProcess.hpp
index be9a6f62c..bd05071e4 100644
--- a/hecl/include/hecl/ClientProcess.hpp
+++ b/hecl/include/hecl/ClientProcess.hpp
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ class ClientProcess
 {
     std::mutex m_mutex;
     std::condition_variable m_cv;
+    std::condition_variable m_initCv;
     int m_verbosity;
 
 public:
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ private:
         ClientProcess& m_proc;
         std::thread m_thr;
         BlenderToken m_blendTok;
+        bool m_didInit = false;
         Worker(ClientProcess& proc);
         void proc();
     };
diff --git a/hecl/lib/ClientProcess.cpp b/hecl/lib/ClientProcess.cpp
index a157b8170..69d1358c2 100644
--- a/hecl/lib/ClientProcess.cpp
+++ b/hecl/lib/ClientProcess.cpp
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@ void ClientProcess::Worker::proc()
     while (m_proc.m_running)
     {
         std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk(m_proc.m_mutex);
+        if (!m_didInit)
+        {
+            m_proc.m_initCv.notify_one();
+            m_didInit = true;
+        }
         while (m_proc.m_pendingQueue.size())
         {
             std::unique_ptr<Transaction> trans = std::move(m_proc.m_pendingQueue.front());
@@ -89,7 +94,11 @@ ClientProcess::ClientProcess(int verbosityLevel)
 #endif
     m_workers.reserve(cpuCount);
     for (int i=0 ; i<cpuCount ; ++i)
+    {
+        std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lk(m_mutex);
         m_workers.emplace_back(*this);
+        m_initCv.wait(lk);
+    }
 }
 
 const ClientProcess::BufferTransaction*