diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f6b2a149..773ccf5e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -149,19 +149,8 @@ iex> KafkaEx.create_worker(:no_name) # indicates to the server process not to na
 
 ### Use KafkaEx with a pooling library
 
-Note that KafkaEx has a supervisor to manage its workers. If you are using Poolboy or a similar
-library, you will want to manually create a worker so that it is not supervised by `KafkaEx.Supervisor`.
-To do this, you will need to call:
-
-```elixir
-GenServer.start_link(KafkaEx.Config.server_impl,
-  [
-    [uris: KafkaEx.Config.brokers(),
-     consumer_group: Application.get_env(:kafka_ex, :consumer_group)],
-    :no_name
-  ]
-)
-```
+Note that KafkaEx has a supervisor to manage its workers started with `KafkaEx.create_worker`. If you are using Poolboy or a similar
+library, you will want to manually create a worker with `KafkaEx.start_worker` so that it is not supervised by `KafkaEx.Supervisor`.
 
 ### Retrieve kafka metadata
 For all metadata
diff --git a/lib/kafka_ex.ex b/lib/kafka_ex.ex
index b678bacd..117f39d1 100644
--- a/lib/kafka_ex.ex
+++ b/lib/kafka_ex.ex
@@ -82,6 +82,35 @@ defmodule KafkaEx do
     end
   end
 
+  @doc """
+  start_worker start_link KafkaEx workers. Arguments are the same as `KafkaEx.create_worker`.
+  The only difference is that start_worker starts worker without supervisor and links it with current process
+
+  ## Example
+
+  ```elixir
+  iex> KafkaEx.stop_worker(:pr) # where :pr is the name of the worker created
+  {:ok, #PID<0.171.0>}
+  iex> KafkaEx.stop_worker(:pr, uris: [{"localhost", 9092}])
+  {:ok, #PID<0.172.0>}
+  iex> KafkaEx.stop_worker(:pr, [uris: [{"localhost", 9092}], consumer_group: "foo"])
+  {:ok, #PID<0.173.0>}
+  iex> KafkaEx.stop_worker(:pr, consumer_group: nil)
+  {:error, :invalid_consumer_group}
+  ```
+  """
+  @spec start_worker(atom, KafkaEx.worker_init()) ::
+          GenServer.on_start()
+  def start_worker(name, worker_init \\ []) do
+    case build_worker_options(worker_init) do
+      {:ok, worker_init} ->
+        apply(KafkaEx.Config.server_impl, :start_link, [worker_init, name])
+
+      {:error, error} ->
+        {:error, error}
+    end
+  end
+
   @doc """
   Stop a worker created with create_worker/2
 
diff --git a/lib/kafka_ex/consumer_group/manager.ex b/lib/kafka_ex/consumer_group/manager.ex
index 6869e921..96a7c5a8 100644
--- a/lib/kafka_ex/consumer_group/manager.ex
+++ b/lib/kafka_ex/consumer_group/manager.ex
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ defmodule KafkaEx.ConsumerGroup.Manager do
     worker_opts = Keyword.take(opts, [:uris])
 
     {:ok, worker_name} =
-      KafkaEx.create_worker(
+      KafkaEx.start_worker(
         :no_name,
         [consumer_group: group_name] ++ worker_opts
       )
@@ -199,8 +199,7 @@ defmodule KafkaEx.ConsumerGroup.Manager do
 
   def terminate(_reason, %State{} = state) do
     {:ok, _state} = leave(state)
-    Process.unlink(state.worker_name)
-    KafkaEx.stop_worker(state.worker_name)
+    GenServer.stop(state.worker_name)
   end
 
   ### Helpers
diff --git a/lib/kafka_ex/gen_consumer.ex b/lib/kafka_ex/gen_consumer.ex
index dcb1517d..f7e79a70 100644
--- a/lib/kafka_ex/gen_consumer.ex
+++ b/lib/kafka_ex/gen_consumer.ex
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ defmodule KafkaEx.GenConsumer do
     worker_opts = Keyword.take(opts, [:uris])
 
     {:ok, worker_name} =
-      KafkaEx.create_worker(
+      KafkaEx.start_worker(
         :no_name,
         [consumer_group: group_name] ++ worker_opts
       )
@@ -654,8 +654,7 @@ defmodule KafkaEx.GenConsumer do
 
   def terminate(_reason, %State{} = state) do
     commit(state)
-    Process.unlink(state.worker_name)
-    KafkaEx.stop_worker(state.worker_name)
+    GenServer.stop(state.worker_name)
   end
 
   # Helpers