diff --git a/tests/python_package_test/test_dask.py b/tests/python_package_test/test_dask.py
index d4b22f675c5f..00079d945c5d 100644
--- a/tests/python_package_test/test_dask.py
+++ b/tests/python_package_test/test_dask.py
@@ -1024,6 +1024,8 @@ def test_network_params_not_required_but_respected_if_given(client, task, output
     if task == 'ranking' and output == 'scipy_csr_matrix':
         pytest.skip('LGBMRanker is not currently tested on sparse matrices')
 
+    client.wait_for_workers(2)
+
     if task == 'ranking':
         _, _, _, _, dX, dy, _, dg = _create_ranking_data(
             output=output,