diff --git a/deepspeed/checkpoint/ds_to_universal.py b/deepspeed/checkpoint/ds_to_universal.py
index 63fa866718de..b1a8276589b6 100755
--- a/deepspeed/checkpoint/ds_to_universal.py
+++ b/deepspeed/checkpoint/ds_to_universal.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 import argparse
 import glob
 import itertools
-import multiprocessing
+from concurrent.futures import ProcessPoolExecutor
 import os
 import re
 import shutil
@@ -292,27 +292,18 @@ def get_matched_sub_params_pattern(name_):
     return unmatched_patterns
 
 
-def _get_chunks(l, n):
-    for i in range(0, len(l), n):
-        yield l[i:i + n]
-
-
 def _do_parallel_work(do_work, work_chunks, num_workers):
+    results = []
     if num_workers > 1:
-        pool = multiprocessing.Pool(num_workers)
-        results = []
-        for batch in tqdm.tqdm(work_chunks):
-            res = pool.map(do_work, batch)
-            results.extend(res)
-        pool.close()
-        pool.join()
+        with ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=num_workers) as executor:
+            future_list = [executor.submit(do_work, work) for work in work_chunks]
+            for f in tqdm.tqdm(future_list):
+                results.append(f.result())
     else:
         # No parallel pass for unit testing
         # We can't create child processes in tests
-        results = []
-        for batch in tqdm.tqdm(work_chunks):
-            res = [do_work(x) for x in batch]
-            results.extend(res)
+        for work in tqdm.tqdm(work_chunks):
+            results.append(do_work(work))
     return results
 
 
@@ -321,20 +312,15 @@ def _extract_zero_shard_files(args, ds_checkpoint, temp_dir):
         itertools.product(range(ds_checkpoint.pp_degree), range(ds_checkpoint.tp_degree),
                           range(ds_checkpoint.dp_degree)))
     #pprint(f'{_3d_range_list=}')
-    work_chunks = list(_get_chunks(_3d_range_list, args.num_extract_workers))
-    #pprint(f'{work_chunks=}')
 
-    # extract_zero_shards(temp_dir, ds_checkpoint, _3d_range_list[0])
     do_work = partial(extract_zero_shards, temp_dir, ds_checkpoint)
-    _do_parallel_work(do_work, work_chunks, args.num_extract_workers)
+    _do_parallel_work(do_work, _3d_range_list, args.num_extract_workers)
 
 
 def _merge_tp_slice_files(args, ds_checkpoint, slice_shapes, temp_dir):
-    work_chunks = list(_get_chunks(list(slice_shapes.items()), args.num_merge_workers))
-    #pprint(work_chunks)
     zero_output_folder = os.path.join(args.output_folder, "zero")
     do_work = partial(merge_tp_slices, ds_checkpoint, zero_output_folder, temp_dir, ds_checkpoint.tp_degree)
-    unmatched_patterns_lists = _do_parallel_work(do_work, work_chunks, args.num_merge_workers)
+    unmatched_patterns_lists = _do_parallel_work(do_work, list(slice_shapes.items()), args.num_merge_workers)
 
     # verify that all patterns were used
     # if a pattern was not used by any of the workers, then it was not used at all -> assert/alert