diff --git a/packages/payload/src/bin/index.ts b/packages/payload/src/bin/index.ts
index b1b973d0e..6bd604a37 100755
--- a/packages/payload/src/bin/index.ts
+++ b/packages/payload/src/bin/index.ts
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ export const bin = async () => {
 
       await payload.destroy() // close database connections after running jobs so process can exit cleanly
 
-      return
+      process.exit(0)
     }
   }