diff --git a/src/engine.c b/src/engine.c
index 4c4c315f9c00d5c1e135da5ac8a8e7c82397986b..077debae8adb3541f8abb67da0a5e90b53928f56 100644
--- a/src/engine.c
+++ b/src/engine.c
@@ -4483,7 +4483,7 @@ void engine_init(struct engine *e, struct space *s,
 
   /* Init the scheduler with enough tasks for the initial sorting tasks. */
   const int nr_tasks = 2 * s->tot_cells + 2 * e->nr_threads;
-  scheduler_init(&e->sched, e->s, nr_tasks, nr_queues, scheduler_flag_steal,
+  scheduler_init(&e->sched, e->s, nr_tasks, nr_queues, (policy & scheduler_flag_steal),
                  e->nodeID, &e->threadpool);
 
   /* Allocate and init the threads. */