diff --git a/src/runtime/mgc.go b/src/runtime/mgc.go
index b79617edf7a..d537aaf67ef 100644
--- a/src/runtime/mgc.go
+++ b/src/runtime/mgc.go
@@ -795,6 +795,16 @@ var work struct {
 	empty lfstack                  // lock-free list of empty blocks workbuf
 	pad0  [sys.CacheLineSize]uint8 // prevents false-sharing between full/empty and nproc/nwait
 
+	wbufSpans struct {
+		lock mutex
+		// busy is a list of all spans containing workbufs on
+		// one of the workbuf lists.
+		busy mSpanList
+	}
+
+	// Restore 64-bit alignment on 32-bit.
+	_ uint32
+
 	// bytesMarked is the number of bytes marked this cycle. This
 	// includes bytes blackened in scanned objects, noscan objects
 	// that go straight to black, and permagrey objects scanned by
diff --git a/src/runtime/mgcwork.go b/src/runtime/mgcwork.go
index 1df40d2afe1..a9559230dec 100644
--- a/src/runtime/mgcwork.go
+++ b/src/runtime/mgcwork.go
@@ -12,8 +12,22 @@ import (
 
 const (
 	_WorkbufSize = 2048 // in bytes; larger values result in less contention
+
+	// workbufAlloc is the number of bytes to allocate at a time
+	// for new workbufs. This must be a multiple of pageSize and
+	// should be a multiple of _WorkbufSize.
+	//
+	// Larger values reduce workbuf allocation overhead. Smaller
+	// values reduce heap fragmentation.
+	workbufAlloc = 32 << 10
 )
 
+func init() {
+	if workbufAlloc%pageSize != 0 || workbufAlloc%_WorkbufSize != 0 {
+		throw("bad workbufAlloc")
+	}
+}
+
 // Garbage collector work pool abstraction.
 //
 // This implements a producer/consumer model for pointers to grey
@@ -318,7 +332,29 @@ func getempty() *workbuf {
 		}
 	}
 	if b == nil {
-		b = (*workbuf)(persistentalloc(unsafe.Sizeof(*b), sys.CacheLineSize, &memstats.gc_sys))
+		// Allocate more workbufs.
+		var s *mspan
+		systemstack(func() {
+			s = mheap_.allocManual(workbufAlloc/pageSize, &memstats.gc_sys)
+		})
+		if s == nil {
+			throw("out of memory")
+		}
+		// Record the new span in the busy list.
+		lock(&work.wbufSpans.lock)
+		work.wbufSpans.busy.insert(s)
+		unlock(&work.wbufSpans.lock)
+		// Slice up the span into new workbufs. Return one and
+		// put the rest on the empty list.
+		for i := uintptr(0); i+_WorkbufSize <= workbufAlloc; i += _WorkbufSize {
+			newb := (*workbuf)(unsafe.Pointer(s.base() + i))
+			newb.nobj = 0
+			if i == 0 {
+				b = newb
+			} else {
+				putempty(newb)
+			}
+		}
 	}
 	return b
 }