diff --git a/libs/wlgen/wlgen/workload.py b/libs/wlgen/wlgen/workload.py
index 8df27d20e4e478c71b2ff4ad0b61fa2065131b16..0700e69e4762a59c4fa1ad80ee3243cd5a67164c 100644
--- a/libs/wlgen/wlgen/workload.py
+++ b/libs/wlgen/wlgen/workload.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import json
 import logging
 import os
 import re
+from time import sleep
 
 class Workload(object):
 
@@ -152,7 +153,43 @@ class Workload(object):
             cgroup=None,
             background=False,
             out_dir='./',
-            as_root=False):
+            as_root=False,
+            start_pause_s=None,
+            end_pause_s=None):
+        """
+        This method starts the execution of the workload. If the user provides
+        an ftrace object, the method will also collect a trace.
+
+        :param ftrace: FTrace object to collect a trace
+        :type ftrace: :mod:`trappy.trace.FTrace`
+
+        :param cgroup: specifies the cgroup name in which the workload has to
+                       run
+        :type cgroup: str
+
+        :param background: run the workload in background. In this case the
+                           method will not return a result. When used with
+                           ftrace it is up to the caller to stop trace
+                           collection
+        :type background: bool
+
+        :param out_dir: output directory where to store the collected trace (if
+                        any)
+        :type out_dir: str
+
+        :param as_root: run the workload as root on the target
+        :type as_root: bool
+
+        :param start_pause_s: time to wait before executing the workload in
+                              seconds. If ftrace is provided, trace collection
+                              is started before waiting.
+        :type start_pause_s: float
+
+        :param end_pause_s: time to wait after executing the workload in
+                            seconds. If ftrace is provided, trace collection is
+                            stopped after this wait time.
+        :type end_pause_s: float
+        """
 
         self.cgroup = cgroup
 
@@ -180,6 +217,12 @@ class Workload(object):
         if ftrace:
             ftrace.start()
 
+        # Wait `start_pause` seconds before running the workload
+        if start_pause_s:
+            logging.info('%14s - Waiting %f seconds before starting workload execution',
+                         'WlGen', start_pause_s)
+            sleep(start_pause_s)
+
         # Start task in background if required
         if background:
             logging.debug('%14s - WlGen [background]: %s', 'WlGen', self.command)
@@ -197,6 +240,12 @@ class Workload(object):
         # print type(results)
         self.output['executor'] = results
 
+        # Wait `end_pause` seconds before stopping ftrace
+        if end_pause_s:
+            logging.info('%14s - Waiting %f seconds before stopping trace collection',
+                         'WlGen', end_pause_s)
+            sleep(end_pause_s)
+
         # Stop FTrace (if required)
         ftrace_dat = None
         if ftrace: