diff --git a/test/zdtm/static/poll.c b/test/zdtm/static/poll.c
index c0f757452..33bc0bd4a 100644
--- a/test/zdtm/static/poll.c
+++ b/test/zdtm/static/poll.c
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	int delta, status;
 	task_waiter_t t;
 	pid_t pid;
+	char *deltaenv;
 
 	test_init(argc, argv);
 	task_waiter_init(&t);
@@ -80,7 +81,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		show_timestamp("Start", time1.tv_sec, time1.tv_usec);
 
 		task_waiter_complete(&t, 1);
-		delta = 5;
+		deltaenv = getenv("ZDTM_DELTA");
+		if (deltaenv)
+			delta = atoi(deltaenv);
+		else
+			delta = 5;
 		while (test_go()) {
 			ret = poll(ufds, 2, delta * 1000);
 			show_pollfd(ufds, 2);