diff --git a/cmd/bucket-lifecycle.go b/cmd/bucket-lifecycle.go
index 1bb5b8751..4f4cbdda4 100644
--- a/cmd/bucket-lifecycle.go
+++ b/cmd/bucket-lifecycle.go
@@ -153,7 +153,9 @@ func initBackgroundExpiry(ctx context.Context, objectAPI ObjectLayer) {
 	globalExpiryState = newExpiryState()
 
 	workerSize, _ := strconv.Atoi(env.Get("_MINIO_ILM_EXPIRY_WORKERS", strconv.Itoa((runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0)+1)/2)))
-
+	if workerSize == 0 {
+		workerSize = 4
+	}
 	ewk, err := workers.New(workerSize)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.LogIf(ctx, err)