diff --git a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-user b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-user
index fe0118438..9c2e1be50 100755
--- a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-user
+++ b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-user
@@ -226,9 +226,9 @@ function syncElastic() {
     mv "${rolesTmpFile}" "${elasticRolesFile}"
 
     if [[ -z "$SKIP_STATE_APPLY" ]]; then
-      echo "Elastic state will be re-applied to affected minions in the background."
+      echo "Elastic state will be re-applied to affected minions. This may take several minutes..."
       echo "Applying elastic state to elastic minions at $(date)" >> /opt/so/log/soc/sync.log 2>&1
-      salt -C 'G@role:so-standalone or G@role:so-eval or G@role:so-import or G@role:so-manager or G@role:so-managersearch or G@role:so-node or G@role:so-heavynode' state.apply elasticsearch queue=True >> /opt/so/log/soc/sync.log 2>&1 &
+      salt -C 'G@role:so-standalone or G@role:so-eval or G@role:so-import or G@role:so-manager or G@role:so-managersearch or G@role:so-node or G@role:so-heavynode' state.apply elasticsearch queue=True >> /opt/so/log/soc/sync.log 2>&1
     fi
   else
     echo "Newly generated users/roles files are incomplete; aborting."
@@ -236,8 +236,9 @@ function syncElastic() {
 }
 
 function syncAll() {
-  if [[ -n "$STALE_MIN" && -f "$databasePath" ]]; then
-    staleCount=$(echo "select count(*) from identity_credentials where updated_at >= Datetime('now', '-${STALE_MIN} minutes');" \
+  if [[ -f "$databasePath" && -f "$elasticUsersFile" ]]; then
+    usersFileAgeSecs=$((echo $(date +%s) - $(date +%s -r "$elasticUsersFile")))
+    staleCount=$(echo "select count(*) from identity_credentials where updated_at >= Datetime('now', '-${usersFileAgeSecs} seconds');" \
       | sqlite3 "$databasePath")
     if [[ "$staleCount" == "0" ]]; then
       return 1
diff --git a/salt/soc/init.sls b/salt/soc/init.sls
index 01b57c8ce..8e1943cb8 100644
--- a/salt/soc/init.sls
+++ b/salt/soc/init.sls
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ soccustom:
 sosyncusers:
   cron.present:
     - user: root
-    - name: 'PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin STALE_MIN=1 /usr/sbin/so-user sync &>> /opt/so/log/soc/sync.log'
+    - name: 'PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin /usr/sbin/so-user sync &>> /opt/so/log/soc/sync.log'
 
 so-soc:
   docker_container.running: