diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 6aee327ea0..77b11f1a36 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ jobs:
   approved:
     if: github.event.pull_request.draft == false
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 120
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci_full.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci_full.yaml
index bdefa8930e..c635000268 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci_full.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci_full.yaml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ on:
 jobs:
   full_matrix_test:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 120
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
diff --git a/heat/core/tests/test_io.py b/heat/core/tests/test_io.py
index 2da5aeb752..cd57f7aadd 100644
--- a/heat/core/tests/test_io.py
+++ b/heat/core/tests/test_io.py
@@ -1119,6 +1119,8 @@ def test_load_zarr_group(self):
             with self.assertRaises(FileNotFoundError):
                 test = ht.load(self.ZARR_OUT_PATH, variable="NONEXSISTENT_CHUNK_*_SPLIT0/DATA", split=0)
 
+            ht.MPI_WORLD.Barrier()
+
     def test_load_zarr_slice(self):
         if not ht.io.supports_zarr():
             self.skipTest("Requires zarr")