diff --git a/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities.ts b/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities.ts
index f94a6ecab8..d97deae317 100644
--- a/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities.ts
+++ b/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ export {
   notifyFrontendOrganizationMergeSuccessful,
   notifyFrontendOrganizationUnmergeSuccessful,
   syncOrganization,
-  recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationSynchronous,
+  recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationAsync,
 } from './activities/organizations'
 
 export { setMergeAction } from './activities/common'
diff --git a/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities/members.ts b/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities/members.ts
index aac7aa9dfa..84d6c38532 100644
--- a/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities/members.ts
+++ b/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities/members.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { WorkflowIdReusePolicy } from '@temporalio/workflow'
+import { WorkflowIdConflictPolicy, WorkflowIdReusePolicy } from '@temporalio/workflow'
 
 import { DEFAULT_TENANT_ID } from '@crowd/common'
 import {
@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ export async function recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfMemberAsync(
     await svc.temporal.workflow.start('memberUpdate', {
       taskQueue: 'profiles',
       workflowId,
-      // if the workflow is already running, this policy will throw an error
-      workflowIdReusePolicy: WorkflowIdReusePolicy.REJECT_DUPLICATE,
+      workflowIdReusePolicy: WorkflowIdReusePolicy.ALLOW_DUPLICATE,
+      workflowIdConflictPolicy: WorkflowIdConflictPolicy.FAIL,
       retry: {
         maximumAttempts: 10,
       },
diff --git a/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities/organizations.ts b/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities/organizations.ts
index e864d92bb4..bf35486d11 100644
--- a/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities/organizations.ts
+++ b/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/activities/organizations.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import { WorkflowIdConflictPolicy, WorkflowIdReusePolicy } from '@temporalio/workflow'
+
 import { DEFAULT_TENANT_ID } from '@crowd/common'
 import { moveActivityRelationsToAnotherOrganization } from '@crowd/data-access-layer/src/activityRelations'
 import {
@@ -35,31 +37,55 @@ export async function finishOrganizationMergingUpdateActivities(
   await moveActivityRelationsToAnotherOrganization(qx, secondaryId, primaryId)
 }
 
-export async function recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationSynchronous(
+export async function recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationAsync(
   organizationId: string,
 ): Promise<void> {
-  await svc.temporal.workflow.start('organizationUpdate', {
-    taskQueue: 'profiles',
-    workflowId: `${TemporalWorkflowId.ORGANIZATION_UPDATE}/${organizationId}`,
-    followRuns: true,
-    retry: {
-      maximumAttempts: 10,
-    },
-    args: [
-      {
-        organization: {
-          id: organizationId,
-        },
-        recalculateAffiliations: true,
-        syncOptions: {
-          doSync: false,
-          withAggs: false,
-        },
+  const workflowId = `${TemporalWorkflowId.ORGANIZATION_UPDATE}/${organizationId}`
+
+  try {
+    const handle = svc.temporal.workflow.getHandle(workflowId)
+    const { status } = await handle.describe()
+
+    if (status.name === 'RUNNING') {
+      await handle.result()
+    }
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (err.name !== 'WorkflowNotFoundError') {
+      svc.log.error({ err }, 'Failed to check workflow state')
+      throw err
+    }
+  }
+
+  try {
+    await svc.temporal.workflow.start('organizationUpdate', {
+      taskQueue: 'profiles',
+      workflowId,
+      workflowIdReusePolicy: WorkflowIdReusePolicy.ALLOW_DUPLICATE,
+      workflowIdConflictPolicy: WorkflowIdConflictPolicy.FAIL,
+      retry: {
+        maximumAttempts: 10,
       },
-    ],
-  })
+      args: [
+        {
+          organization: {
+            id: organizationId,
+          },
+          recalculateAffiliations: true,
+          syncOptions: {
+            doSync: false,
+            withAggs: false,
+          },
+        },
+      ],
+    })
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (err.name === 'WorkflowExecutionAlreadyStartedError') {
+      svc.log.info({ workflowId }, 'Workflow already started, skipping')
+      return
+    }
 
-  await svc.temporal.workflow.result(`${TemporalWorkflowId.ORGANIZATION_UPDATE}/${organizationId}`)
+    throw err
+  }
 }
 
 export async function syncOrganization(organizationId: string, syncStart: Date): Promise<void> {
diff --git a/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/workflows/all.ts b/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/workflows/all.ts
index 06d60229cf..e68d0e77bd 100644
--- a/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/workflows/all.ts
+++ b/services/apps/entity_merging_worker/src/workflows/all.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ const {
   notifyFrontendOrganizationMergeSuccessful,
   notifyFrontendOrganizationUnmergeSuccessful,
   recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfMemberAsync,
-  recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationSynchronous,
+  recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationAsync,
   setMergeAction,
   syncMember,
   syncOrganization,
@@ -118,8 +118,8 @@ export async function finishOrganizationUnmerging(
   await setMergeAction(primaryId, secondaryId, {
     step: MergeActionStep.UNMERGE_ASYNC_STARTED,
   })
-  await recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationSynchronous(primaryId)
-  await recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationSynchronous(secondaryId)
+  await recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationAsync(primaryId)
+  await recalculateActivityAffiliationsOfOrganizationAsync(secondaryId)
   const syncStart = new Date()
   await syncOrganization(primaryId, syncStart)
   await syncOrganization(secondaryId, syncStart)