diff --git a/docs/root/intro/arch_overview/intro/threading_model.rst b/docs/root/intro/arch_overview/intro/threading_model.rst
index ca83cb92e92c..168f4321bfcb 100644
--- a/docs/root/intro/arch_overview/intro/threading_model.rst
+++ b/docs/root/intro/arch_overview/intro/threading_model.rst
@@ -24,3 +24,7 @@ to have Envoy forcibly balance connections between worker threads. To support th
 Envoy allows for different types of :ref:`connection balancing
 <envoy_v3_api_field_config.listener.v3.Listener.connection_balance_config>` to be configured on each :ref:`listener
 <arch_overview_listeners>`.
+
+On Windows the kernel is not able to balance the connections properly with the async IO model that Envoy is using.
+Until this is fixed by the platform, Envoy will enforce listener connection balancing on Windows. This allows us to
+balance connections between different worker threads. This behavior comes with a performance penalty.
diff --git a/docs/root/version_history/current.rst b/docs/root/version_history/current.rst
index 6b6410036ebc..e066ef2b3ea0 100644
--- a/docs/root/version_history/current.rst
+++ b/docs/root/version_history/current.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ Minor Behavior Changes
 
 Bug Fixes
 ---------
+*Changes expected to improve the state of the world and are unlikely to have negative effects*
+
+* listener: fixed an issue on Windows where connections are not handled by all worker threads.
 
 Removed Config or Runtime
 -------------------------
diff --git a/source/server/listener_impl.cc b/source/server/listener_impl.cc
index ed1ff37e85a6..09965fa30287 100644
--- a/source/server/listener_impl.cc
+++ b/source/server/listener_impl.cc
@@ -523,6 +523,19 @@ void ListenerImpl::buildFilterChains() {
 void ListenerImpl::buildSocketOptions() {
   // TCP specific setup.
   if (connection_balancer_ == nullptr) {
+#ifdef WIN32
+    // On Windows we use the exact connection balancer to dispatch connections
+    // from worker 1 to all workers. This is a perf hit but it is the only way
+    // to make all the workers do work.
+    // TODO(davinci26): We can be faster here if we create a balancer implementation
+    // that dispatches the connection to a random thread.
+    ENVOY_LOG(warn,
+              "ExactBalance was forced enabled for TCP listener '{}' because "
+              "Envoy is running on Windows."
+              "ExactBalance is used to load balance connections between workers on Windows.",
+              config_.name());
+    connection_balancer_ = std::make_shared<Network::ExactConnectionBalancerImpl>();
+#else
     // Not in place listener update.
     if (config_.has_connection_balance_config()) {
       // Currently exact balance is the only supported type and there are no options.
@@ -531,6 +544,7 @@ void ListenerImpl::buildSocketOptions() {
     } else {
       connection_balancer_ = std::make_shared<Network::NopConnectionBalancerImpl>();
     }
+#endif
   }
 
   if (config_.has_tcp_fast_open_queue_length()) {
diff --git a/test/integration/integration_test.cc b/test/integration/integration_test.cc
index 29ca3be6d8e7..1f2d249c53df 100644
--- a/test/integration/integration_test.cc
+++ b/test/integration/integration_test.cc
@@ -142,6 +142,56 @@ TEST_P(IntegrationTest, PerWorkerStatsAndBalancing) {
   check_listener_stats(0, 1);
 }
 
+// Make sure all workers pick up connections
+#ifdef WIN32
+// We can only guarantee this on Windows without the reuse_port changes.
+TEST_P(IntegrationTest, AllWorkersAreHandlingLoad) {
+  concurrency_ = 2;
+  initialize();
+
+  std::string worker0_stat_name, worker1_stat_name;
+  if (GetParam() == Network::Address::IpVersion::v4) {
+    worker0_stat_name = "listener.127.0.0.1_0.worker_0.downstream_cx_total";
+    worker1_stat_name = "listener.127.0.0.1_0.worker_1.downstream_cx_total";
+  } else {
+    worker0_stat_name = "listener.[__1]_0.worker_0.downstream_cx_total";
+    worker1_stat_name = "listener.[__1]_0.worker_1.downstream_cx_total";
+  }
+
+  test_server_->waitForCounterEq(worker0_stat_name, 0);
+  test_server_->waitForCounterEq(worker1_stat_name, 0);
+
+  // We set the counters for the two workers to see how many connections each handles.
+  uint64_t w0_ctr = 0;
+  uint64_t w1_ctr = 0;
+  constexpr int loops = 5;
+  for (int i = 0; i < loops; i++) {
+    constexpr int requests_per_loop = 4;
+    std::array<IntegrationCodecClientPtr, requests_per_loop> connections;
+    for (int j = 0; j < requests_per_loop; j++) {
+      connections[j] = makeHttpConnection(lookupPort("http"));
+    }
+
+    auto worker0_ctr = test_server_->counter(worker0_stat_name);
+    auto worker1_ctr = test_server_->counter(worker1_stat_name);
+    auto target = w0_ctr + w1_ctr + requests_per_loop;
+    while (test_server_->counter(worker0_stat_name)->value() +
+               test_server_->counter(worker1_stat_name)->value() <
+           target) {
+      timeSystem().advanceTimeWait(std::chrono::milliseconds(10));
+    }
+    w0_ctr = test_server_->counter(worker0_stat_name)->value();
+    w1_ctr = test_server_->counter(worker1_stat_name)->value();
+    for (int j = 0; j < requests_per_loop; j++) {
+      connections[j]->close();
+    }
+  }
+
+  EXPECT_TRUE(w0_ctr > 1);
+  EXPECT_TRUE(w1_ctr > 1);
+}
+#endif
+
 TEST_P(IntegrationTest, RouterDirectResponseWithBody) {
   const std::string body = "Response body";
   const std::string file_path = TestEnvironment::writeStringToFileForTest("test_envoy", body);