diff --git a/controllers/etcd_controller.go b/controllers/etcd_controller.go
index 9709a4a05..979ea19b3 100644
--- a/controllers/etcd_controller.go
+++ b/controllers/etcd_controller.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/yaml"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/controller"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/manager"
 
 	druidv1alpha1 "github.com/gardener/etcd-druid/api/v1alpha1"
@@ -988,9 +989,10 @@ func convertConditionsToEtcd(condition *appsv1.StatefulSetCondition) druidv1alph
 }
 
 // SetupWithManager sets up manager with a new controller and r as the reconcile.Reconciler
-func (r *EtcdReconciler) SetupWithManager(mgr ctrl.Manager) error {
-	return ctrl.NewControllerManagedBy(mgr).
-		For(&druidv1alpha1.Etcd{}).
+func (r *EtcdReconciler) SetupWithManager(mgr ctrl.Manager, workers int) error {
+	return ctrl.NewControllerManagedBy(mgr).WithOptions(controller.Options{
+		MaxConcurrentReconciles: workers,
+	}).For(&druidv1alpha1.Etcd{}).
 		Owns(&appsv1.StatefulSet{}).
 		Complete(r)
 }
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index ffaadcd7e..65c4c365b 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ func init() {
 func main() {
 	var metricsAddr string
 	var enableLeaderElection bool
+	var workers int
+	flag.IntVar(&workers, "workers", 3, "Number of worker threads.")
 	flag.StringVar(&metricsAddr, "metrics-addr", ":8080", "The address the metric endpoint binds to.")
 	flag.BoolVar(&enableLeaderElection, "enable-leader-election", false,
 		"Enable leader election for controller manager. Enabling this will ensure there is only one active controller manager.")
@@ -67,7 +69,7 @@ func main() {
 		setupLog.Error(err, "unable to initialize controller with image vector")
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
-	err = ec.SetupWithManager(mgr)
+	err = ec.SetupWithManager(mgr, workers)
 	if err != nil {
 		setupLog.Error(err, "unable to create controller", "controller", "Etcd")
 		os.Exit(1)