diff --git a/lib/Resque/Worker.php b/lib/Resque/Worker.php
index d94aef54..9d6d4a86 100644
--- a/lib/Resque/Worker.php
+++ b/lib/Resque/Worker.php
@@ -213,7 +213,12 @@ public function work($interval = Resque::DEFAULT_INTERVAL, $blocking = false)
 				$this->logger->log(Psr\Log\LogLevel::INFO, $status);
 
 				// Wait until the child process finishes before continuing
-				pcntl_wait($status);
+				while(pcntl_wait($status, WNOHANG) === 0) {
+					pcntl_signal_dispatch();
+
+					// Pause for a half a second to conserve system resources
+					usleep(500000);
+				}
 				$exitStatus = pcntl_wexitstatus($status);
 				if($exitStatus !== 0) {
 					$job->fail(new Resque_Job_DirtyExitException(