diff --git a/src/program/program.py b/src/program/program.py
index 036508f3..d4fb0a43 100644
--- a/src/program/program.py
+++ b/src/program/program.py
@@ -377,7 +377,8 @@ def _init_db_from_symlinks(self):
 
                     task = progress.add_task("Enriching items with metadata", total=len(items), log="")
                     with Live(progress, console=console, refresh_per_second=10):
-                        with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=os.getenv("SYMLINK_MAX_WORKERS", 4)) as executor: # testing between 4 and 8
+                        workers = os.getenv("SYMLINK_MAX_WORKERS", 4)
+                        with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=int(workers)) as executor:
                             future_to_item = {executor.submit(self._enhance_item, item): item for item in items if isinstance(item, (Movie, Show))}
                             for future in as_completed(future_to_item):
                                 item = future_to_item[future]