diff --git a/src/plugins/job_submit/pbs/spank_pbs.c b/src/plugins/job_submit/pbs/spank_pbs.c
index 285f8bc13f1c4202c03e9efac720bf04991de6c3..249586fb8a37487edc9eaf21652ceb9531faac60 100644
--- a/src/plugins/job_submit/pbs/spank_pbs.c
+++ b/src/plugins/job_submit/pbs/spank_pbs.c
@@ -106,7 +106,8 @@ int slurm_spank_task_init(spank_t sp, int ac, char **av)
 	if (spank_getenv(sp, "SYSTEM", val, sizeof(val)) == ESPANK_SUCCESS)
 		spank_setenv(sp, "PBS_O_SYSTEM", val, 1);
 
-	if (spank_getenv(sp, "WORKDIR", val, sizeof(val)) == ESPANK_SUCCESS)
+	if (spank_getenv(sp, "SLURM_SUBMIT_DIR", val, sizeof(val)) ==
+	    ESPANK_SUCCESS)
 		spank_setenv(sp, "PBS_O_WORKDIR", val, 1);
 
 	/* PBS_QUEUE is set in the job_submit/pbs plugin, but only for