diff --git a/config/env.go b/config/env.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..adf6f9b68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/env.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The Hugo Authors. All rights reserved.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package config
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"runtime"
+	"strconv"
+)
+
+// GetNumWorkerMultiplier returns the base value used to calculate the number
+// of workers to use for Hugo's parallel execution.
+// It returns the value in HUGO_NUMWORKERMULTIPLIER OS env variable if set to a
+// positive integer, else the number of logical CPUs.
+func GetNumWorkerMultiplier() int {
+	if gmp := os.Getenv("HUGO_NUMWORKERMULTIPLIER"); gmp != "" {
+		if p, err := strconv.Atoi(gmp); err == nil && p > 0 {
+			return p
+		}
+	}
+	return runtime.NumCPU()
+}
diff --git a/docs/content/en/getting-started/configuration.md b/docs/content/en/getting-started/configuration.md
index 5b310db15..4ef42465f 100644
--- a/docs/content/en/getting-started/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/content/en/getting-started/configuration.md
@@ -297,6 +297,11 @@ enableemoji: true
 ```
 {{% /note %}}
 
+## Configuration Environment Variables
+
+HUGO_NUMWORKERMULTIPLIER
+: Can be set to increase or reduce the number of workers used in parallel processing in Hugo. If not set, the number of logical CPUs will be used.
+
 ## Configuration Lookup Order
 
 Similar to the template [lookup order][], Hugo has a default set of rules for searching for a configuration file in the root of your website's source directory as a default behavior:
diff --git a/hugolib/pagebundler.go b/hugolib/pagebundler.go
index 682221d8c..5149968bc 100644
--- a/hugolib/pagebundler.go
+++ b/hugolib/pagebundler.go
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
 	"path/filepath"
-	"runtime"
+
+	"github.com/gohugoio/hugo/config"
 
 	_errors "github.com/pkg/errors"
 
@@ -73,10 +74,7 @@ func (s *siteContentProcessor) processAsset(asset pathLangFile) {
 }
 
 func newSiteContentProcessor(ctx context.Context, partialBuild bool, s *Site) *siteContentProcessor {
-	numWorkers := 12
-	if n := runtime.NumCPU() * 3; n > numWorkers {
-		numWorkers = n
-	}
+	numWorkers := config.GetNumWorkerMultiplier() * 3
 
 	numWorkers = int(math.Ceil(float64(numWorkers) / float64(len(s.h.Sites))))
 
diff --git a/hugolib/pagebundler_capture.go b/hugolib/pagebundler_capture.go
index 17a4b865a..7c01a751d 100644
--- a/hugolib/pagebundler_capture.go
+++ b/hugolib/pagebundler_capture.go
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path"
 	"path/filepath"
-	"runtime"
+
+	"github.com/gohugoio/hugo/config"
 
 	"github.com/gohugoio/hugo/common/loggers"
 	_errors "github.com/pkg/errors"
@@ -70,10 +71,7 @@ func newCapturer(
 	contentChanges *contentChangeMap,
 	filenames ...string) *capturer {
 
-	numWorkers := 4
-	if n := runtime.NumCPU(); n > numWorkers {
-		numWorkers = n
-	}
+	numWorkers := config.GetNumWorkerMultiplier()
 
 	// TODO(bep) the "index" vs "_index" check/strings should be moved in one place.
 	isBundleHeader := func(filename string) bool {
diff --git a/hugolib/site.go b/hugolib/site.go
index 84ee7823c..616b5b37d 100644
--- a/hugolib/site.go
+++ b/hugolib/site.go
@@ -1881,15 +1881,6 @@ func (s *Site) newPage(kind string, sections ...string) *pageState {
 	return p
 }
 
-func getGoMaxProcs() int {
-	if gmp := os.Getenv("GOMAXPROCS"); gmp != "" {
-		if p, err := strconv.Atoi(gmp); err == nil {
-			return p
-		}
-	}
-	return 1
-}
-
 func (s *Site) shouldBuild(p page.Page) bool {
 	return shouldBuild(s.BuildFuture, s.BuildExpired,
 		s.BuildDrafts, p.Draft(), p.PublishDate(), p.ExpiryDate())
diff --git a/hugolib/site_render.go b/hugolib/site_render.go
index f3df09f09..1d8b14b0a 100644
--- a/hugolib/site_render.go
+++ b/hugolib/site_render.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 
+	"github.com/gohugoio/hugo/config"
+
 	"github.com/gohugoio/hugo/output"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 
@@ -55,7 +57,7 @@ func (s siteRenderContext) renderSingletonPages() bool {
 // TODO(bep np doc
 func (s *Site) renderPages(ctx *siteRenderContext) error {
 
-	numWorkers := getGoMaxProcs() * 4
+	numWorkers := config.GetNumWorkerMultiplier()
 
 	results := make(chan error)
 	pages := make(chan *pageState, numWorkers) // buffered for performance
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index d04012111..ecb423e60 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -14,16 +14,12 @@
 package main
 
 import (
-	"runtime"
-
 	"os"
 
 	"github.com/gohugoio/hugo/commands"
 )
 
 func main() {
-
-	runtime.GOMAXPROCS(runtime.NumCPU())
 	resp := commands.Execute(os.Args[1:])
 
 	if resp.Err != nil {