diff --git a/lib/workers.js b/lib/workers.js
index 6e272ef81..613fb118c 100644
--- a/lib/workers.js
+++ b/lib/workers.js
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ class Workers extends EventEmitter {
     recorder.startUnlessRunning();
     event.dispatcher.emit(event.workers.before);
     // expose this to manage events better when using run-workers command
-    process.env.RUN_WITH_WORKERS = 'true';
+    process.env.RUNS_WITH_WORKERS = 'true';
     recorder.add('starting workers', () => {
       for (const worker of this.workers) {
         const workerThread = createWorker(worker);