diff --git a/bin/pbackup b/bin/pbackup
index 761514f..47e0500 100755
--- a/bin/pbackup
+++ b/bin/pbackup
@@ -737,7 +737,12 @@ sub do_jobs {
             do_a_job(0, $type) or last;
             upid_shutdown_pending() and exit 0;
             upid_doing("BACKUP $type pause");
-            sleep 1;
+            if ($type eq '%') {
+                # don't block a single fileserver for too long, give incrementals a chance
+                sleep 600;
+            } else {
+                sleep 1;
+            }
             upid_shutdown_pending() and exit 0;
         }
         upid_doing("BACKUP $type idle, waiting");