diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c4631f4..ab02395 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -246,6 +246,8 @@ file values; see the result of `--help` for more information.
 * `landBase`: if specified, overrides the auto-detected base commit when running
     the `land` command. Generally this is specified on the command line using
     `--land-base` rather than in a config file.
+* `numWorkers`: if specified, the number of parallel workers to use for parallel
+    operations like `decaffeinate` and `eslint --fix`.
 * `skipVerify`: set to `true` to skip the initial verification step when running
   the `convert` command. This makes bulk-decaffeinate take less time, but if any
   files fail to convert, it may leave the filesystem in a partially-converted
diff --git a/src/check.js b/src/check.js
index 7ffe032..0e37b67 100644
--- a/src/check.js
+++ b/src/check.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import pluralize from './util/pluralize';
 export default async function check(config) {
   let filesToProcess = await getFilesToProcess(config, COFFEE_FILE_RECOGNIZER);
   let decaffeinateResults = await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     `Doing a dry run of decaffeinate on ${pluralize(filesToProcess.length, 'file')}...`,
     filesToProcess, makeDecaffeinateVerifyFn(config),
     {allowFailures: true});
diff --git a/src/cli.js b/src/cli.js
index 95fdc23..c3ca22a 100644
--- a/src/cli.js
+++ b/src/cli.js
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ export default function () {
       `The git revision to use as the base commit when running the "land"
                               command. If none is specified, bulk-decaffeinate tries to use the
                               first auto-generated commit in recent history.`)
+    .option('--num-workers [number]',
+      `The number of workers to use for parallel operations.`)
     .option('--skip-verify',
       `If specified, skips the initial verification step when running the
                               "convert" command.`)
diff --git a/src/config/resolveConfig.js b/src/config/resolveConfig.js
index 516f3d8..852305a 100644
--- a/src/config/resolveConfig.js
+++ b/src/config/resolveConfig.js
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ export default async function resolveConfig(commander) {
     mochaEnvFilePattern: config.mochaEnvFilePattern,
     codePrefix: config.codePrefix,
     landBase: config.landBase,
+    numWorkers: config.numWorkers || 8,
     skipVerify: config.skipVerify,
     decaffeinatePath: await resolveDecaffeinatePath(config),
     jscodeshiftPath: await resolveJscodeshiftPath(config),
@@ -99,6 +100,7 @@ function getCLIParamsConfig(config, commander) {
     dir,
     useJsModules,
     landBase,
+    numWorkers,
     skipVerify,
     decaffeinatePath,
     jscodeshiftPath,
@@ -127,6 +129,9 @@ function getCLIParamsConfig(config, commander) {
   if (landBase) {
     config.landBase = landBase;
   }
+  if (numWorkers) {
+    config.numWorkers = numWorkers;
+  }
   if (skipVerify) {
     config.skipVerify = true;
   }
diff --git a/src/convert.js b/src/convert.js
index bad78ae..4f1076b 100644
--- a/src/convert.js
+++ b/src/convert.js
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ export default async function convert(config) {
   if (!config.skipVerify) {
     try {
       await runWithProgressBar(
+        config,
         'Verifying that decaffeinate can successfully convert these files...',
         coffeeFiles, makeDecaffeinateVerifyFn(config));
     } catch (e) {
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ Re-run with the "check" command for more details.`);
   }
 
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Backing up files to .original.coffee...',
     coffeeFiles,
     async function(coffeePath) {
@@ -53,6 +55,7 @@ Re-run with the "check" command for more details.`);
     });
 
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     `Renaming files from .coffee to .${config.outputFileExtension}...`,
     movingCoffeeFiles,
     async function(coffeePath) {
@@ -71,6 +74,7 @@ Re-run with the "check" command for more details.`);
   }
 
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Moving files back...',
     movingCoffeeFiles,
     async function(coffeePath) {
@@ -78,12 +82,14 @@ Re-run with the "check" command for more details.`);
     });
 
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Running decaffeinate on all files...',
     coffeeFiles,
     makeCLIFn(path => `${decaffeinatePath} ${decaffeinateArgs.join(' ')} ${path}`)
   );
 
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Deleting old files...',
     coffeeFiles,
     async function(coffeePath) {
@@ -91,6 +97,7 @@ Re-run with the "check" command for more details.`);
     });
 
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Setting proper extension for all files...',
     coffeeFiles,
     async function(coffeePath) {
@@ -112,7 +119,7 @@ Re-run with the "check" command for more details.`);
     await runJscodeshiftScripts(jsFiles, config);
   }
   if (config.mochaEnvFilePattern) {
-    await prependMochaEnv(jsFiles, config.mochaEnvFilePattern);
+    await prependMochaEnv(config, jsFiles, config.mochaEnvFilePattern);
   }
   let thirdCommitModifiedFiles = jsFiles.slice();
   if (config.fixImportsConfig) {
@@ -120,7 +127,7 @@ Re-run with the "check" command for more details.`);
   }
   await runEslintFix(jsFiles, config, {isUpdate: false});
   if (config.codePrefix) {
-    await prependCodePrefix(jsFiles, config.codePrefix);
+    await prependCodePrefix(config, jsFiles, config.codePrefix);
   }
 
   let postProcessCommitMsg =
diff --git a/src/modernize/prependCodePrefix.js b/src/modernize/prependCodePrefix.js
index f789e09..c888b11 100644
--- a/src/modernize/prependCodePrefix.js
+++ b/src/modernize/prependCodePrefix.js
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import prependToFile from '../util/prependToFile';
 import runWithProgressBar from '../runner/runWithProgressBar';
 
-export default async function prependCodePrefix(jsFiles, codePrefix) {
+export default async function prependCodePrefix(config, jsFiles, codePrefix) {
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Adding code prefix to converted files...', jsFiles, async function(path) {
       await prependToFile(path, codePrefix);
       return {error: null};
diff --git a/src/modernize/prependMochaEnv.js b/src/modernize/prependMochaEnv.js
index 3bed4ba..e668498 100644
--- a/src/modernize/prependMochaEnv.js
+++ b/src/modernize/prependMochaEnv.js
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import runWithProgressBar from '../runner/runWithProgressBar';
 import prependToFile from '../util/prependToFile';
 
-export default async function prependMochaEnv(jsFiles, mochaEnvFilePattern) {
+export default async function prependMochaEnv(config, jsFiles, mochaEnvFilePattern) {
   let regex = new RegExp(mochaEnvFilePattern);
   let testFiles = jsFiles.filter(f => regex.test(f));
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Adding /* eslint-env mocha */ to test files...', testFiles, async function(path) {
       await prependToFile(path, '/* eslint-env mocha */\n');
       return {error: null};
diff --git a/src/modernize/removeAutogeneratedHeader.js b/src/modernize/removeAutogeneratedHeader.js
index e718bef..3922462 100644
--- a/src/modernize/removeAutogeneratedHeader.js
+++ b/src/modernize/removeAutogeneratedHeader.js
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@ import { readFile, writeFile } from 'fs-promise';
 import runWithProgressBar from '../runner/runWithProgressBar';
 import { HEADER_COMMENT_LINES } from './runEslintFix';
 
-export default async function removeAutogeneratedHeader(jsFiles) {
+export default async function removeAutogeneratedHeader(config, jsFiles) {
   await runWithProgressBar(
-    'Removing any existing autogenerated headers...', jsFiles, removeHeadersFromFile);
+    config,
+    'Removing any existing autogenerated headers...',
+    jsFiles,
+    removeHeadersFromFile);
 }
 
 async function removeHeadersFromFile(path) {
diff --git a/src/modernize/runEslintFix.js b/src/modernize/runEslintFix.js
index 13c9b6e..9d9f24d 100644
--- a/src/modernize/runEslintFix.js
+++ b/src/modernize/runEslintFix.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import prependToFile from '../util/prependToFile';
 
 export default async function runEslintFix(jsFiles, config, {isUpdate}) {
   let eslintResults = await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Running eslint --fix on all files...', jsFiles, makeEslintFixFn(config, {isUpdate}));
   for (let result of eslintResults) {
     for (let message of result.messages) {
diff --git a/src/modernize/runFixImports.js b/src/modernize/runFixImports.js
index 8b0b601..2c4a474 100644
--- a/src/modernize/runFixImports.js
+++ b/src/modernize/runFixImports.js
@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ export default async function runFixImports(jsFiles, config) {
     convertedFiles: jsFiles.map(p => resolve(p)),
     absoluteImportPaths: absoluteImportPaths.map(p => resolve(p)),
   };
-  let eligibleFixImportsFiles = await getEligibleFixImportsFiles(searchPath, jsFiles);
+  let eligibleFixImportsFiles = await getEligibleFixImportsFiles(
+    config, searchPath, jsFiles);
   console.log('Fixing any imports across the whole codebase...');
   if (eligibleFixImportsFiles.length > 0) {
     // Note that the args can get really long, so we take reasonable steps to
@@ -36,11 +37,12 @@ export default async function runFixImports(jsFiles, config) {
   return eligibleFixImportsFiles;
 }
 
-async function getEligibleFixImportsFiles(searchPath, jsFiles) {
+async function getEligibleFixImportsFiles(config, searchPath, jsFiles) {
   let jsBasenames = jsFiles.map(p => basename(p, '.js'));
   let resolvedPaths = jsFiles.map(p => resolve(p));
   let allJsFiles = await getFilesUnderPath(searchPath, p => p.endsWith('.js'));
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Searching for files that may need to have updated imports...',
     allJsFiles,
     async function(p) {
diff --git a/src/modernizeJS.js b/src/modernizeJS.js
index 2e55073..c9314f3 100644
--- a/src/modernizeJS.js
+++ b/src/modernizeJS.js
@@ -17,8 +17,9 @@ export default async function modernizeJS(config) {
     return;
   }
 
-  await removeAutogeneratedHeader(jsFiles);
+  await removeAutogeneratedHeader(config, jsFiles);
   await runWithProgressBar(
+    config,
     'Running decaffeinate --modernize-js on all files...',
     jsFiles,
     makeCLIFn(path => `${decaffeinatePath} --modernize-js ${decaffeinateArgs.join(' ')} ${path}`)
diff --git a/src/runner/runWithProgressBar.js b/src/runner/runWithProgressBar.js
index 6996ac7..dc487ce 100644
--- a/src/runner/runWithProgressBar.js
+++ b/src/runner/runWithProgressBar.js
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ import runInParallel from './runInParallel';
 import CLIError from '../util/CLIError';
 import pluralize from '../util/pluralize';
 
-const NUM_CONCURRENT_PROCESSES = 8;
-
 /**
  * Run the given command in parallel, showing a progress bar of results.
  *
@@ -15,13 +13,13 @@ const NUM_CONCURRENT_PROCESSES = 8;
  * any other fields.
  */
 export default async function runWithProgressBar(
-    description, files, asyncFn, {runInSeries, allowFailures}={}) {
+    config, description, files, asyncFn, {runInSeries, allowFailures}={}) {
   let numProcessed = 0;
   let numFailures = 0;
   let numTotal = files.length;
   let startTime = moment();
-  console.log(description);
-  let numConcurrentProcesses = runInSeries ? 1 : NUM_CONCURRENT_PROCESSES;
+  let numConcurrentProcesses = runInSeries ? 1 : config.numWorkers;
+  console.log(`${description} (${pluralize(numConcurrentProcesses, 'worker')})`);
   let results;
   try {
     results = await runInParallel(files, asyncFn, numConcurrentProcesses, ({result}) => {
diff --git a/test/bulk-decaffeinate-test.js b/test/bulk-decaffeinate-test.js
index 1c4d731..5086cf5 100644
--- a/test/bulk-decaffeinate-test.js
+++ b/test/bulk-decaffeinate-test.js
@@ -141,4 +141,12 @@ describe('check', () => {
       assertIncludes(stdout, 'All checks succeeded');
     });
   });
+
+  it('allows specifying the number of parallel workers', async function() {
+    await runWithTemplateDir('simple-success', async function() {
+      let {stdout, stderr} = await runCli('check --num-workers 3');
+      assert.equal(stderr, '');
+      assertIncludes(stdout, '(3 workers)');
+    });
+  });
 });