diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index c1a9641b..93e233d6 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ language: cpp
 env:
   global:
     - JOBS=4
+    - MAKEFLAGS="-j ${JOBS}"
     - POLYBAR_BUILD_TYPE="compile"
 
 script: source ${TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR}/common/travis/build.sh
diff --git a/common/travis/build.sh b/common/travis/build.sh
index 31f04177..9e376049 100755
--- a/common/travis/build.sh
+++ b/common/travis/build.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 cd "${TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR}/build" || false
-make -j"${JOBS}" || exit $?
+make || exit $?
diff --git a/common/travis/tests.sh b/common/travis/tests.sh
index 7d2d1ce3..83118613 100755
--- a/common/travis/tests.sh
+++ b/common/travis/tests.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 r=0
 
-make -j"${JOBS}" all_unit_tests
+make all_unit_tests
 
 for test in tests/unit_test.*; do
   [ -x "$test" ] || continue