diff --git a/modules/worker-utils/src/lib/worker-api/process-on-worker.ts b/modules/worker-utils/src/lib/worker-api/process-on-worker.ts
index 54326dfcba..36485c8ca8 100644
--- a/modules/worker-utils/src/lib/worker-api/process-on-worker.ts
+++ b/modules/worker-utils/src/lib/worker-api/process-on-worker.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ import WorkerFarm from '../worker-farm/worker-farm';
 import {removeNontransferableOptions} from '../worker-utils/remove-nontransferable-options';
 import {getWorkerURL, getWorkerName} from './get-worker-url';
 
+type ProcessOnWorkerOptions = WorkerOptions & {
+  jobName?: string;
+  [key: string]: any;
+};
+
+type ProcessOnMainThread = (data: any, options?: {[key: string]: any}) => any;
+
 /**
  * Determines if we can parse with worker
  * @param loader
@@ -31,8 +38,8 @@ export function canProcessWithWorker(worker: WorkerObject, options?: WorkerOptio
 export async function processOnWorker(
   worker: WorkerObject,
   data: any,
-  options: WorkerOptions = {},
-  processOnMainThread?: Function
+  options: ProcessOnWorkerOptions,
+  processOnMainThread?: ProcessOnMainThread
 ): Promise<any> {
   const name = getWorkerName(worker);
   const url = getWorkerURL(worker, options);
@@ -40,7 +47,8 @@ export async function processOnWorker(
   const workerFarm = WorkerFarm.getWorkerFarm(options);
   const workerPool = workerFarm.getWorkerPool({name, url});
 
-  const job = await workerPool.startJob(worker.name, onMessage.bind(null, processOnMainThread));
+  const jobName = options.jobName || worker.name;
+  const job = await workerPool.startJob(jobName, onMessage.bind(null, processOnMainThread));
 
   // Kick off the processing in the worker
   const transferableOptions = removeNontransferableOptions(options);
@@ -56,7 +64,7 @@ export async function processOnWorker(
  * @param message
  */
 async function onMessage(
-  processOnMainThread,
+  processOnMainThread: ProcessOnMainThread | undefined,
   job: WorkerJob,
   type: WorkerMessageType,
   payload: WorkerMessagePayload
@@ -65,11 +73,29 @@ async function onMessage(
     case 'done':
       job.done(payload);
       break;
+
     case 'error':
       job.error(payload.error);
       break;
-    default:
-      job.error(type);
+
+    case 'process':
+      // Worker is asking for main thread to parse
+      const {id, input, options} = payload;
+      try {
+        if (!processOnMainThread) {
+          job.postMessage('error', {id, error: 'Worker not set up to process on main thread'});
+          return;
+        }
+        const result = await processOnMainThread(input, options);
+        job.postMessage('done', {id, result});
+      } catch (error) {
+        const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'unknown error';
+        job.postMessage('error', {id, error: message});
+      }
       break;
+
+    default:
+      // eslint-disable-next-line
+      console.warn(`process-on-worker: unknown message ${type}`);
   }
 }
diff --git a/modules/worker-utils/src/types.ts b/modules/worker-utils/src/types.ts
index 3b5a652e37..1281e4a1f5 100644
--- a/modules/worker-utils/src/types.ts
+++ b/modules/worker-utils/src/types.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ export type WorkerOptions = {
   maxMobileConcurrency?: number;
   reuseWorkers?: boolean;
   _workerType?: string;
-  [key: string]: any;
+  [key: string]: any; // TODO
 };
 
 /**
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ export type WorkerMessageType =
 
 export type WorkerMessagePayload = {
   id?: number;
-  options?: object;
+  options?: {[key: string]: any};
   input?: any; // Transferable;
   result?: any; // Transferable
   error?: string;