diff --git a/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/streaming/harness/SingleSourceWorkerHarness.java b/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/streaming/harness/SingleSourceWorkerHarness.java
index 1a961a947ddd..95023d117299 100644
--- a/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/streaming/harness/SingleSourceWorkerHarness.java
+++ b/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/streaming/harness/SingleSourceWorkerHarness.java
@@ -130,17 +130,15 @@ public void shutdown() {
         isRunning.compareAndSet(true, false),
         "Multiple calls to {}.shutdown() are not allowed.",
         getClass());
-    workProviderExecutor.shutdown();
-    boolean isTerminated = false;
+    // Interrupt the dispatch loop to start shutting it down.
+    workProviderExecutor.shutdownNow();
     try {
-      isTerminated = workProviderExecutor.awaitTermination(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+      while (!workProviderExecutor.awaitTermination(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS)) {
+        LOG.warn("Still waiting for the dispatch loop to terminate.");
+      }
     } catch (InterruptedException e) {
       LOG.warn("Unable to shutdown {}", getClass());
     }
-
-    if (!isTerminated) {
-      workProviderExecutor.shutdownNow();
-    }
     workCommitter.stop();
   }
 
diff --git a/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/StreamingDataflowWorkerTest.java b/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/StreamingDataflowWorkerTest.java
index 033d7718d1c9..bead1ffd5b24 100644
--- a/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/StreamingDataflowWorkerTest.java
+++ b/runners/google-cloud-dataflow-java/worker/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/runners/dataflow/worker/StreamingDataflowWorkerTest.java
@@ -1226,6 +1226,8 @@ public void testKeyTokenInvalidException() throws Exception {
             .build(),
         removeDynamicFields(result.get(1L)));
     assertEquals(1, result.size());
+
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -1301,6 +1303,7 @@ public void testKeyCommitTooLargeException() throws Exception {
       }
     }
     assertTrue(foundErrors);
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -1338,6 +1341,7 @@ public void testOutputKeyTooLargeException() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(
         makeExpectedOutput(1, 0, bigKey, DEFAULT_SHARDING_KEY, "smaller_key").build(),
         removeDynamicFields(result.get(1L)));
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -1375,6 +1379,7 @@ public void testOutputValueTooLargeException() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(
         makeExpectedOutput(1, 0, "key", DEFAULT_SHARDING_KEY, "smaller_key").build(),
         removeDynamicFields(result.get(1L)));
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -1429,6 +1434,7 @@ public void testKeyChange() throws Exception {
               .build(),
           removeDynamicFields(result.get((long) i + 1000)));
     }
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test(timeout = 30000)
@@ -1530,6 +1536,7 @@ public void testExceptions() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(keyString, stats.getKey().toStringUtf8());
     assertEquals(0, stats.getWorkToken());
     assertEquals(1, stats.getShardingKey());
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -1605,6 +1612,7 @@ public void testAssignWindows() throws Exception {
                     intervalWindowBytes(WINDOW_AT_ONE_SECOND),
                     makeExpectedOutput(timestamp2, timestamp2))
                 .build()));
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   private void verifyTimers(WorkItemCommitRequest commit, Timer... timers) {
@@ -1929,6 +1937,7 @@ public void testMergeWindows() throws Exception {
         splitIntToLong(getCounter(counters, "WindmillStateBytesWritten").getInteger()));
     // No input messages
     assertEquals(0L, splitIntToLong(getCounter(counters, "WindmillShuffleBytesRead").getInteger()));
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -2223,6 +2232,7 @@ public void testMergeWindowsCaching() throws Exception {
     LOG.info("cache stats {}", stats);
     assertEquals(1, stats.hitCount());
     assertEquals(4, stats.missCount());
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   // Helper for running tests for merging sessions based upon Actions consisting of GetWorkResponse
@@ -2304,6 +2314,7 @@ private void runMergeSessionsActions(List<Action> actions) throws Exception {
       verifyTimers(actualOutput, action.expectedTimers);
       verifyHolds(actualOutput, action.expectedHolds);
     }
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -2590,6 +2601,7 @@ public void testUnboundedSources() throws Exception {
                 .build()));
 
     assertNull(getCounter(counters, "dataflow_input_size-computation"));
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -2702,6 +2714,7 @@ public void testUnboundedSourcesDrain() throws Exception {
                 .build()));
 
     assertThat(finalizeTracker, contains(0));
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   // Regression test to ensure that a reader is not used from the cache
@@ -2835,6 +2848,7 @@ public void testUnboundedSourceWorkRetry() throws Exception {
                 .build()));
 
     assertThat(finalizeTracker, contains(0));
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -3412,6 +3426,7 @@ public void testExceptionInvalidatesCache() throws Exception {
                       parseCommitRequest(sb.toString()))
                   .build()));
     }
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -3909,6 +3924,7 @@ numMessagesInCustomSourceShard, new InflateDoFn(inflatedSizePerMessage)))
     commit = result.get(2L);
 
     assertThat(commit.getSerializedSize(), isWithinBundleSizeLimits);
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test
@@ -3990,6 +4006,7 @@ public void testLimitOnOutputBundleSizeWithMultipleSinks() throws Exception {
     commit = result.get(2L);
 
     assertThat(commit.getSerializedSize(), isWithinBundleSizeLimits);
+    worker.stop();
   }
 
   @Test