diff --git a/lib/workers/index.js b/lib/workers/index.js
index 3190741d3..d2944225c 100644
--- a/lib/workers/index.js
+++ b/lib/workers/index.js
@@ -124,16 +124,56 @@ Workers.initializeIndexWorkers = function (Env, config, _cb) {
         return response.expected(id)? guid(): id;
     };
 
-    var workerIndex = 0;
-    var sendCommand = function (msg, _cb) {
-        var cb = Util.once(Util.mkAsync(_cb));
-
-        workerIndex = (workerIndex + 1) % workers.length;
-        if (!isWorker(workers[workerIndex])) {
-            return void cb("NO_WORKERS");
+    const MAX_JOBS = 32;
+    var workerOffset = -1;
+    var getAvailableWorkerIndex = function () {
+        var L = workers.length;
+        if (L === 0) {
+            console.log("no workers available"); // XXX
+            return -1;
         }
 
-        var state = workers[workerIndex];
+        // cycle through the workers once
+        // start from a different offset each time
+        // return -1 if none are available
+
+        workerOffset = (workerOffset + 1) % L;
+
+        var temp;
+        for (let i = 0; i < L; i++) {
+            temp = (workerOffset + i) % L;
+/*  I'd like for this condition to be more efficient
+    (`Object.keys` is sub-optimal) but I found some bugs in my initial
+    implementation stemming from a task counter variable going out-of-sync
+    with reality when a worker crashed and its tasks were re-assigned to
+    its substitute. I'm sure it can be done correctly and efficiently,
+    but this is a relatively easy way to make sure it's always up to date.
+    We'll see how it performs in practice before optimizing.
+*/
+            if (workers[temp] && Object.keys(workers[temp]).length < MAX_JOBS) {
+                return temp;
+            }
+        }
+        return -1;
+    };
+
+    var queue = [];
+
+    var sendCommand = function (msg, _cb) {
+        var index = getAvailableWorkerIndex();
+
+        var state = workers[index];
+        // if there is no worker available:
+        if (!isWorker(state)) {
+            // queue the message for when one becomes available
+            queue.push({
+                msg: msg,
+                cb: _cb,
+            });
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var cb = Util.once(Util.mkAsync(_cb));
 
         const txid = guid();
         msg.txid = txid;
@@ -141,14 +181,42 @@ Workers.initializeIndexWorkers = function (Env, config, _cb) {
 
         // track which worker is doing which jobs
         state.tasks[txid] = msg;
-        response.expect(txid, function (err, value) {
-            // clean up when you get a response
-            delete state[txid];
-            cb(err, value);
-        }, 60000);
+
+        response.expect(txid, cb, 60000);
         state.worker.send(msg);
     };
 
+    var handleResponse = function (state, res) {
+        if (!res) { return; }
+        // handle log messages before checking if it was addressed to your PID
+        // it might still be useful to know what happened inside an orphaned worker
+        if (res.log) {
+            return void handleLog(res.log, res.label, res.info);
+        }
+        // but don't bother handling things addressed to other processes
+        // since it's basically guaranteed not to work
+        if (res.pid !== PID) {
+            return void Log.error("WRONG_PID", res);
+        }
+
+        if (!res.txid) { return; }
+        response.handle(res.txid, [res.error, res.value]);
+        delete state.tasks[res.txid];
+        if (!queue.length) { return; }
+
+        var nextMsg = queue.shift();
+/*  `nextMsg` was at the top of the queue.
+    We know that a job just finished and all of this code
+    is synchronous, so calling `sendCommand` should take the worker
+    which was just freed up. This is somewhat fragile though, so
+    be careful if you want to modify this block. The risk is that
+    we take something that was at the top of the queue and push it
+    to the back because the following msg took its place. OR, in an
+    even worse scenario, we cycle through the queue but don't run anything.
+*/
+        sendCommand(nextMsg.msg, nextMsg.cb);
+    };
+
     const initWorker = function (worker, cb) {
         const txid = guid();
 
@@ -170,19 +238,7 @@ Workers.initializeIndexWorkers = function (Env, config, _cb) {
         });
 
         worker.on('message', function (res) {
-            if (!res) { return; }
-            // handle log messages before checking if it was addressed to your PID
-            // it might still be useful to know what happened inside an orphaned worker
-            if (res.log) {
-                return void handleLog(res.log, res.label, res.info);
-            }
-            // but don't bother handling things addressed to other processes
-            // since it's basically guaranteed not to work
-            if (res.pid !== PID) {
-                return void Log.error("WRONG_PID", res);
-            }
-
-            response.handle(res.txid, [res.error, res.value]);
+            handleResponse(state, res);
         });
 
         var substituteWorker = Util.once(function () {