diff --git a/workload/cpu_fold.py b/workload/cpu_fold.py
index f9b0a937d..e08d76624 100644
--- a/workload/cpu_fold.py
+++ b/workload/cpu_fold.py
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ def test_cpu_stop(self):
         Kill the CPU workload
         """
         self.grep_cmd = "grep -i {}".format("cpu.sh")
-        self.process_kill = 'ps aux | {} | awk "{{ print $2 }}" | \
-                xargs kill'.format(self.grep_cmd)
+        self.awk_cmd = "awk '{print $2}'"
+        self.process_kill = "ps aux | {} | {} | head -1 | xargs kill".format(self.grep_cmd, self.awk_cmd)
         process.run(self.process_kill, ignore_status=True,
                     sudo=True, shell=True)
         self.log.info("CPU Workload killed successfully--!!")
diff --git a/workload/smt.py b/workload/smt.py
index 9b31c630f..72d15c3ec 100644
--- a/workload/smt.py
+++ b/workload/smt.py
@@ -65,8 +65,8 @@ def test_smt_stop(self):
         Kill the SMT workload
         """
         grep_cmd = "grep -i {}".format("smt.sh")
-        process_kill = 'ps aux | {} | awk "{{ print $2 }}" | \
-                xargs kill'.format(grep_cmd)
+        awk_cmd = "awk '{print $2}'"
+        process_kill = "ps aux | {} | {} | head -1 | xargs kill".format(grep_cmd, awk_cmd)
         process.run(process_kill, ignore_status=True,
                     sudo=True, shell=True)
         self.log.info("SMT Workload killed successfully--!!")