diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index ee4ea8805..22be92ed0 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ func init() {
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&taintKey, "taint", "", "Set node taint key")
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().MarkDeprecated("taint", "Taint key should now be configured using the VK_TAINT_KEY environment variable")
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&logLevel, "log-level", "info", `set the log level, e.g. "trace", debug", "info", "warn", "error"`)
-	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().IntVar(&podSyncWorkers, "pod-sync-workers", 1, `set the number of pod synchronization workers`)
+	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().IntVar(&podSyncWorkers, "pod-sync-workers", 10, `set the number of pod synchronization workers`)
 
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringSliceVar(&userTraceExporters, "trace-exporter", nil, fmt.Sprintf("sets the tracing exporter to use, available exporters: %s", AvailableTraceExporters()))
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&userTraceConfig.ServiceName, "trace-service-name", "virtual-kubelet", "sets the name of the service used to register with the trace exporter")