diff --git a/compose/local/django/start b/compose/local/django/start
index 4eaa76436..252b99752 100755
--- a/compose/local/django/start
+++ b/compose/local/django/start
@@ -11,5 +11,11 @@ python manage.py migrate
 if [ "${DEBUGGER:-0}" = "1" ]; then
     exec python -Xfrozen_modules=off -m debugpy --listen 0.0.0.0:5678 -m uvicorn config.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0
 else
-    exec uvicorn config.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0 --reload --reload-include '*.html'
+    WORKERS="${WEB_WORKERS:-1}"
+    if [ "$WORKERS" -gt 1 ]; then
+        # --reload is incompatible with --workers, so skip it for multi-worker mode
+        exec uvicorn config.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0 --workers "$WORKERS"
+    else
+        exec uvicorn config.asgi:application --host 0.0.0.0 --reload --reload-include '*.html'
+    fi
 fi
diff --git a/compose/production/django/start b/compose/production/django/start
index 5dcb00b5a..a775c0527 100644
--- a/compose/production/django/start
+++ b/compose/production/django/start
@@ -6,4 +6,6 @@ set -o nounset
 
 python /app/manage.py collectstatic --noinput
 
-exec newrelic-admin run-program /usr/local/bin/gunicorn config.asgi --bind 0.0.0.0:5000 --chdir=/app -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker
+exec newrelic-admin run-program /usr/local/bin/gunicorn config.asgi \
+    --workers "${WEB_WORKERS:-4}" \
+    --bind 0.0.0.0:5000 --chdir=/app -k uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker