diff --git a/src/journal/test-compress-benchmark.c b/src/journal/test-compress-benchmark.c
index 4fb93ded73e..2a0ef634a5d 100644
--- a/src/journal/test-compress-benchmark.c
+++ b/src/journal/test-compress-benchmark.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 #include "alloc-util.h"
 #include "compress.h"
+#include "env-util.h"
 #include "macro.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
 #include "random-util.h"
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ typedef int (decompress_t)(const void *src, uint64_t src_size,
 
 #if defined(HAVE_XZ) || defined(HAVE_LZ4)
 
-static usec_t arg_duration = 2 * USEC_PER_SEC;
+static usec_t arg_duration;
 static size_t arg_start;
 
 #define MAX_SIZE (1024*1024LU)
@@ -158,6 +159,7 @@ static void test_compress_decompress(const char* label, const char* type,
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 #if defined(HAVE_XZ) || defined(HAVE_LZ4)
         const char *i;
+        int r;
 
         log_set_max_level(LOG_INFO);
 
@@ -166,7 +168,15 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
                 assert_se(safe_atou(argv[1], &x) >= 0);
                 arg_duration = x * USEC_PER_SEC;
+        } else {
+                bool slow;
+
+                r = getenv_bool("SYSTEMD_SLOW_TESTS");
+                slow = r >= 0 ? r : SYSTEMD_SLOW_TESTS_DEFAULT;
+
+                arg_duration = slow ? 2 * USEC_PER_SEC : USEC_PER_SEC / 50;
         }
+
         if (argc == 3)
                 (void) safe_atozu(argv[2], &arg_start);
         else