diff --git a/source/vibe/core/concurrency.d b/source/vibe/core/concurrency.d
index b18cab89..01432cc6 100644
--- a/source/vibe/core/concurrency.d
+++ b/source/vibe/core/concurrency.d
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import std.typecons;
 import std.typetuple;
 import std.string;
 import vibe.core.task;
+import vibe.core.taskpool;
 
 
 private extern (C) pure nothrow void _d_monitorenter(Object h);
@@ -1233,6 +1234,123 @@ Future!(ReturnType!CALLABLE) asyncWork(CALLABLE, ARGS...)(CALLABLE callable, ARG
 }
 
 
+/** Performs work in a worker task and waits for the result to be available.
+
+	Other tasks can continue to run in the calling thread while the worker task
+	performs the function call.
+
+	Params:
+		pool = Optional task pool instance to use, uses the default worker pool by default
+		callable = Function or function-like object to call - must be weakly isolated and `nothrow`
+		args = Arguments to pass to callable - must be weakly isolated
+
+	See_also: `isWeaklyIsolated`, `asyncWork`
+*/
+ReturnType!CALLABLE performInWorker(CALLABLE, ARGS...)
+	(CALLABLE callable, ARGS arguments)
+	if (is(typeof(callable(arguments)) == ReturnType!CALLABLE) &&
+		isWeaklyIsolated!CALLABLE && isWeaklyIsolated!ARGS)
+{
+	import vibe.core.core : workerTaskPool;
+	return performInWorker(workerTaskPool, callable, arguments);
+}
+/// ditto
+ReturnType!CALLABLE performInWorker(CALLABLE, ARGS...)
+	(TaskPool pool, CALLABLE callable, ARGS arguments)
+	if (is(typeof(callable(arguments)) == ReturnType!CALLABLE) &&
+		isWeaklyIsolated!CALLABLE && isWeaklyIsolated!ARGS)
+{
+	import core.sync.mutex : Mutex;
+	import vibe.core.sync : TaskCondition, scopedMutexLock;
+
+	// TODO: this could improve performance by re-using the Mutex/TaskCondition
+	//       instances for later calls. When this optimization gets implemented,
+	//       care should be taken to clean up the cached instances before the
+	//       process/thread exits, so that nothing gets leaked to the GC
+
+	static shared(Mutex) s_mutex;
+	static struct CTX {
+		CALLABLE callable;
+		ARGS args;
+		ReturnType!CALLABLE result;
+		shared(Mutex) mutex;
+		shared(TaskCondition) condition;
+		bool done;
+	}
+
+	// set up context
+	CTX ctx = CTX(callable, arguments);
+	ctx.mutex = new shared Mutex;
+	ctx.condition = new shared TaskCondition(ctx.mutex);
+
+	// start worker task
+	pool.runTask((shared(CTX)* ctx_) nothrow {
+		auto ctx = () @trusted { return cast(CTX*)ctx_; } ();
+		auto res = ctx.callable(ctx.args);
+		{
+			auto l = scopedMutexLock(ctx.mutex);
+			ctx.result = res;
+			ctx.done = true;
+			ctx.condition.notifyAll();
+		}
+	}, () @trusted { return cast(shared)&ctx; } ());
+
+	scope (failure) assert(false);
+
+	{ // wait for result
+		auto l = scopedMutexLock(ctx.mutex);
+		while (!ctx.done) ctx.condition.wait();
+	}
+
+	// clean up resources
+	() @trusted {
+		destroy(ctx.condition);
+		destroy(ctx.mutex);
+	} ();
+
+	return ctx.result;
+}
+
+///
+@safe unittest {
+	import vibe.core.core : runTask, sleepUninterruptible;
+	import vibe.core.log : logInfo;
+
+	// runs in parallel to the heavy work
+	int cnt = 0;
+	auto t = runTask({
+		foreach (i; 0 .. 100) {
+			sleepUninterruptible(1.msecs);
+			cnt++;
+		}
+	});
+
+	// perform some heavy CPU work in a worker thread, while the background task
+	// continues to run unaffected
+	auto res = performInWorker((long start_value) {
+		auto tm = MonoTime.currTime;
+		long res = start_value;
+		// simulate some CPU workload for 50 ms
+		while (MonoTime.currTime - tm < 50.msecs) {
+			res++;
+			res *= res;
+			if (!res) res++;
+		}
+		return res;
+	}, 1234);
+
+	logInfo("Result: %s, background task has made %s rounds", res, cnt);
+
+	// should always receive a non-zero result
+	assert(res != 0);
+	// background task should have made roughly 50 rounds up to here
+	version (OSX) {} else assert(cnt > 25 && cnt < 75);
+
+	// make sure our background task also finishes
+	t.join();
+}
+
+
 /******************************************************************************/
 /* std.concurrency compatible interface for message passing                   */
 /******************************************************************************/