diff --git a/flow/activities/flowable.go b/flow/activities/flowable.go
index 3342e2d008..7b5a7a173c 100644
--- a/flow/activities/flowable.go
+++ b/flow/activities/flowable.go
@@ -675,6 +675,9 @@ func (a *FlowableActivity) QRepWaitUntilNewRows(ctx context.Context,
 	defer connectors.CloseConnector(srcConn)
 	pgSrcConn := srcConn.(*connpostgres.PostgresConnector)
 
+	log.WithFields(log.Fields{
+		"flowName": config.FlowJobName,
+	}).Infof("current last partition value is %v\n", last)
 	attemptCount := 1
 	for {
 		activity.RecordHeartbeat(ctx, fmt.Sprintf("no new rows yet, attempt #%d", attemptCount))
diff --git a/flow/workflows/qrep_flow.go b/flow/workflows/qrep_flow.go
index abe1338bf8..e60f616483 100644
--- a/flow/workflows/qrep_flow.go
+++ b/flow/workflows/qrep_flow.go
@@ -238,6 +238,22 @@ func (q *QRepFlowExecution) consolidatePartitions(ctx workflow.Context) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (q *QRepFlowExecution) waitForNewRows(ctx workflow.Context, lastPartition *protos.QRepPartition) error {
+	q.logger.Info("idling until new rows are detected")
+
+	ctx = workflow.WithActivityOptions(ctx, workflow.ActivityOptions{
+		StartToCloseTimeout: 16 * 365 * 24 * time.Hour, // 16 years
+		HeartbeatTimeout:    5 * time.Minute,
+	})
+
+	if err := workflow.ExecuteActivity(ctx, flowable.QRepWaitUntilNewRows, q.config,
+		lastPartition).Get(ctx, nil); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed while idling for new rows: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 func QRepFlowWorkflow(
 	ctx workflow.Context,
 	config *protos.QRepConfig,
@@ -257,11 +273,6 @@ func QRepFlowWorkflow(
 		maxParallelWorkers = int(config.MaxParallelWorkers)
 	}
 
-	waitBetweenBatches := 5 * time.Second
-	if config.WaitBetweenBatchesSeconds > 0 {
-		waitBetweenBatches = time.Duration(config.WaitBetweenBatchesSeconds) * time.Second
-	}
-
 	if config.BatchDurationSeconds == 0 {
 		config.BatchDurationSeconds = 60
 	}
@@ -353,9 +364,9 @@ func QRepFlowWorkflow(
 	}
 
 	// sleep for a while and continue the workflow
-	err = workflow.Sleep(ctx, waitBetweenBatches)
+	err = q.waitForNewRows(ctx, lastPartition)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to sleep: %w", err)
+		return err
 	}
 
 	workflow.GetLogger(ctx).Info("Continuing as new workflow",