diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index dd54216e1..f5a97402c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ Instead of "antragsgruen_sites", a custom plugin managing the authentication and
 
 Redis can be used to cache the changes in amendments, user sessions, and many other aspects of the site. To enable redis, simply add a `redis` configuration key to the `config.json` and point it to your setup:
 
-Add the following settings to your config.json (and adapt them to your needs):
+Add the following settings to your `config.json` (and adapt them to your needs):
 ```json
 {
     "redis": {
@@ -292,6 +292,22 @@ Add the following settings to your config.json (and adapt them to your needs):
 }
 ```
 
+### Enable background job processing
+
+Some processes that are potentially blocking or long-running can be executed as background jobs, by using a permanently running worker-job that executes these jobs asynchonously.
+
+The following example on how to run the background job processor uses [Supervisord](http://supervisord.org), but it is just as possible running it via any other process manager.
+- Copy [supervisor.conf](docs/supervisor.conf) to your supervisord configuration directory, modify it to your needs, and run it.
+- Enable background jobs by adding the following settings to your `config.json`:
+
+```json
+{
+    "backgroundJobs": true
+}
+```
+
+Currently, this only affects the sending of e-mails.
+
 ### File-based View Caching (very large consultations)
 
 Antragsgrün already does a decent amount of caching by default, and even more when enabling Redis. An even more aggressive caching mode that caches some fully rendered HTML pages and PDFs can be enabled by enabling the following option in the `config.json`:
diff --git a/commands/BackgroundJobController.php b/commands/BackgroundJobController.php
index 29dbab556..430b98698 100644
--- a/commands/BackgroundJobController.php
+++ b/commands/BackgroundJobController.php
@@ -12,17 +12,30 @@
  */
 class BackgroundJobController extends Controller
 {
-    private const MAX_EVENTS = 1000;
-    private const MAX_RUNTIME_SECONDS = 600;
-    private const MAX_MEMORY_USAGE = 64_000_000;
+    private const DEFAULT_MAX_EVENTS = 1000;
+    private const DEFAULT_MAX_RUNTIME_SECONDS = 600;
+    private const DEFAULT_MAX_MEMORY_USAGE = 64_000_000;
+
+    protected int $maxEvents = self::DEFAULT_MAX_EVENTS;
+    protected int $maxRuntimeSeconds = self::DEFAULT_MAX_RUNTIME_SECONDS;
+    protected int $maxMemoryUsage = self::DEFAULT_MAX_MEMORY_USAGE;
+
+    public function options($actionID): array
+    {
+        return ['maxEvents', 'maxRuntimeSeconds', 'maxMemoryUsage'];
+    }
 
     /**
      * Runs the background job processor
-     *
-     * @throws \yii\db\Exception
+     * Options:
+     * --max-runtime-seconds 600
+     * --max-events 1000
+     * --max-memory-usage 64000000
      */
     public function actionRun(): void
     {
+        echo "Starting background job processor at: " . date("Y-m-d H:i:s.u") . "\n";
+
         $connection = \Yii::$app->getDb();
         $connection->enableLogging = false;
 
@@ -35,12 +48,29 @@ public function actionRun(): void
                 usleep(100_000);
             }
         }
+
+        echo "Stopping background job processor at: " . date("Y-m-d H:i:s.u") . "\n";
     }
 
     private function needsRestart(BackgroundJobProcessor $processor): bool
     {
-        return $processor->getProcessedEvents() >= self::MAX_EVENTS
-            || $processor->getRuntimeInSeconds() >= self::MAX_RUNTIME_SECONDS
-            || memory_get_peak_usage() >= self::MAX_MEMORY_USAGE;
+        echo $this->maxRuntimeSeconds . "\n";
+
+        if ($processor->getProcessedEvents() >= $this->maxEvents) {
+            echo "Stopping because maximum number of processed events has been reached.\n";
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if ($processor->getRuntimeInSeconds() >= $this->maxRuntimeSeconds) {
+            echo "Stopping because maximum runtime has been reached.\n";
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (memory_get_peak_usage() >= $this->maxMemoryUsage) {
+            echo "Stopping because maximum memory usage has been reached.\n";
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        return false;
     }
 }
diff --git a/components/BackgroundJobScheduler.php b/components/BackgroundJobScheduler.php
index b24ceb2fd..b130a7d83 100644
--- a/components/BackgroundJobScheduler.php
+++ b/components/BackgroundJobScheduler.php
@@ -5,19 +5,24 @@
 namespace app\components;
 
 use app\models\backgroundJobs\IBackgroundJob;
+use app\models\settings\AntragsgruenApp;
 
 class BackgroundJobScheduler
 {
     public static function executeOrScheduleJob(IBackgroundJob $job): void
     {
-        \Yii::$app->getDb()->createCommand(
-            'INSERT INTO backgroundJob (`siteId`, `consultationId`, `type`, `dateCreation`, `payload`) VALUES (:siteId, :consultationId, :type, NOW(), :payload)',
-            [
-                ':siteId' => $job->getSite()?->id,
-                ':consultationId' => $job->getConsultation()?->id,
-                ':type' => $job->getTypeId(),
-                ':payload' => $job->toJson(),
-            ]
-        )->execute();
+        if (AntragsgruenApp::getInstance()->backgroundJobs) {
+            \Yii::$app->getDb()->createCommand(
+                'INSERT INTO `backgroundJob` (`siteId`, `consultationId`, `type`, `dateCreation`, `payload`) VALUES (:siteId, :consultationId, :type, NOW(), :payload)',
+                [
+                    ':siteId' => $job->getSite()?->id,
+                    ':consultationId' => $job->getConsultation()?->id,
+                    ':type' => $job->getTypeId(),
+                    ':payload' => $job->toJson(),
+                ]
+            )->execute();
+        } else {
+            $job->execute();
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/docs/supervisor.conf b/docs/supervisor.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..517f8651b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/supervisor.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+[program:antragsgruen-background-jobs]
+command=/var/www/antragsgruen/yii background-job/run
+redirect_stderr=true
+user=www-data
+environment=ANTRAGSGRUEN_CONFIG="/var/www/antragsgruen/config/config.json"
diff --git a/models/settings/AntragsgruenApp.php b/models/settings/AntragsgruenApp.php
index 76bfea5ff..b92398e05 100644
--- a/models/settings/AntragsgruenApp.php
+++ b/models/settings/AntragsgruenApp.php
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class AntragsgruenApp implements \JsonSerializable
     public bool $confirmEmailAddresses = true;
     public bool $enforceTwoFactorAuthentication = false;
     public bool $dataPrivacyCheckbox = false;
+    public bool $backgroundJobs = false;
     public string $mailFromName = 'Antragsgrün';
     public string $mailFromEmail = '';
     public ?string $mailDefaultReplyTo = null;