diff --git a/packages/SystemUI/aconfig/systemui.aconfig b/packages/SystemUI/aconfig/systemui.aconfig
index ab4fe76..eaa6d07 100644
--- a/packages/SystemUI/aconfig/systemui.aconfig
+++ b/packages/SystemUI/aconfig/systemui.aconfig
@@ -241,10 +241,16 @@
 }
 
 flag {
+   name: "switch_user_on_bg"
+   namespace: "systemui"
+   description: "Does user switching on a background thread"
+   bug: "284095720"
+}
+
+flag {
     name: "status_bar_static_inout_indicators"
     namespace: "systemui"
     description: "(Upstream request) Always show the network activity inout indicators and "
         "prefer using alpha to distinguish network activity."
     bug: "310715220"
 }
-
diff --git a/packages/SystemUI/src/com/android/systemui/user/domain/interactor/UserSwitcherInteractor.kt b/packages/SystemUI/src/com/android/systemui/user/domain/interactor/UserSwitcherInteractor.kt
index e0d205f..a9ad8ce 100644
--- a/packages/SystemUI/src/com/android/systemui/user/domain/interactor/UserSwitcherInteractor.kt
+++ b/packages/SystemUI/src/com/android/systemui/user/domain/interactor/UserSwitcherInteractor.kt
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 import com.android.internal.util.UserIcons
 import com.android.keyguard.KeyguardUpdateMonitor
 import com.android.keyguard.KeyguardUpdateMonitorCallback
+import com.android.systemui.Flags.switchUserOnBg
 import com.android.systemui.SystemUISecondaryUserService
 import com.android.systemui.animation.Expandable
 import com.android.systemui.broadcast.BroadcastDispatcher
@@ -593,10 +594,18 @@
     private fun switchUser(userId: Int) {
         // TODO(b/246631653): track jank and latency like in the old impl.
         refreshUsersScheduler.pause()
-        try {
-            activityManager.switchUser(userId)
-        } catch (e: RemoteException) {
-            Log.e(TAG, "Couldn't switch user.", e)
+        val runnable = Runnable {
+            try {
+                activityManager.switchUser(userId)
+            } catch (e: RemoteException) {
+                Log.e(TAG, "Couldn't switch user.", e)
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (switchUserOnBg()) {
+            applicationScope.launch { withContext(backgroundDispatcher) { runnable.run() } }
+        } else {
+            runnable.run()
         }
     }