diff --git a/upstart-jobs/nix-daemon.nix b/upstart-jobs/nix-daemon.nix
index 553c1c93533..939539a42f9 100644
--- a/upstart-jobs/nix-daemon.nix
+++ b/upstart-jobs/nix-daemon.nix
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@
     stop on shutdown
     respawn
     script
-      export PATH=${if config.nix.distributedBuilds then "${pkgs.openssh}/bin:" else ""}${pkgs.openssl}/bin:${nix}/bin:$PATH
+      export PATH=${if config.nix.distributedBuilds then "${pkgs.openssh}/bin:${pkgs.gzip}/bin:" else ""}${pkgs.openssl}/bin:${nix}/bin:$PATH
       ${nixEnvVars}
-      exec ${nix}/bin/nix-worker --daemon > /dev/null 2>&1
+      exec nice -10 ${nix}/bin/nix-worker --daemon > /dev/null 2>&1
     end script
   ";