diff --git a/reana_job_controller/job_monitor.py b/reana_job_controller/job_monitor.py
index 0beede1e..23d345bd 100644
--- a/reana_job_controller/job_monitor.py
+++ b/reana_job_controller/job_monitor.py
@@ -210,10 +210,12 @@ def get_job_logs(self, job_pod):
             logging.info("Grabbing pod {} logs ...".format(job_pod.metadata.name))
             for container in container_statuses:
                 if container.state.terminated:
-                    container_log = current_k8s_corev1_api_client.read_namespaced_pod_log(
-                        namespace=REANA_RUNTIME_KUBERNETES_NAMESPACE,
-                        name=job_pod.metadata.name,
-                        container=container.name,
+                    container_log = (
+                        current_k8s_corev1_api_client.read_namespaced_pod_log(
+                            namespace=REANA_RUNTIME_KUBERNETES_NAMESPACE,
+                            name=job_pod.metadata.name,
+                            container=container.name,
+                        )
                     )
                     pod_logs += "{}: :\n {}\n".format(container.name, container_log)
                 elif container.state.waiting:
@@ -418,14 +420,6 @@ def __init__(self, app=None):
         self.job_manager_cls = COMPUTE_BACKENDS["slurmcern"]()
         super(__class__, self).__init__(thread_name="slurm_job_monitor")
 
-    def format_slurm_job_query(self, backend_job_ids):
-        """Format Slurm job query."""
-        cmd = (
-            "sacct --jobs {} --noheader --allocations --parsable "
-            "--format State,JobID".format(",".join(backend_job_ids))
-        )
-        return cmd
-
     def watch_jobs(self, job_db, app=None):
         """Use SSH connection to slurm submitnode to monitor jobs.
 
@@ -448,20 +442,19 @@ def watch_jobs(self, job_db, app=None):
                     ):
                         slurm_jobs[job_dict["backend_job_id"]] = id
                 if not slurm_jobs.keys():
-                    logging.error("No slurm jobs")
                     continue
-                slurm_query_cmd = self.format_slurm_job_query(slurm_jobs.keys())
-                stdout = slurm_connection.exec_command(slurm_query_cmd)
-                for item in stdout.rstrip().split("\n"):
-                    slurm_job_status = item.split("|")[0]
-                    slurm_job_id = item.split("|")[1]
+
+                for slurm_job_id, job_dict in slurm_jobs.items():
+                    slurm_job_status = slurm_connection.exec_command(
+                        f"scontrol show job {slurm_job_id} -o | tr ' ' '\n' | grep JobState | cut -f2 -d '='"
+                    ).rstrip()
                     job_id = slurm_jobs[slurm_job_id]
                     if slurm_job_status in slurmJobStatus["succeeded"]:
                         self.job_manager_cls.get_outputs()
                         job_db[job_id]["status"] = "succeeded"
                         job_db[job_id]["deleted"] = True
                         job_db[job_id]["log"] = self.job_manager_cls.get_logs(
-                            backend_job_id=job_dict["backend_job_id"],
+                            backend_job_id=slurm_job_id,
                             workspace=job_db[job_id]["obj"].workflow_workspace,
                         )
                         store_logs(logs=job_db[job_id]["log"], job_id=job_id)
@@ -470,7 +463,7 @@ def watch_jobs(self, job_db, app=None):
                         job_db[job_id]["status"] = "failed"
                         job_db[job_id]["deleted"] = True
                         job_db[job_id]["log"] = self.job_manager_cls.get_logs(
-                            backend_job_id=job_dict["backend_job_id"],
+                            backend_job_id=slurm_job_id,
                             workspace=job_db[job_id]["obj"].workflow_workspace,
                         )
                         store_logs(logs=job_db[job_id]["log"], job_id=job_id)