diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketServer.cpp b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketServer.cpp
index 9d455dae..ea00dbbc 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketServer.cpp
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketServer.cpp
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ namespace ix
                 continue;
             }
 
-            _workers.push_back(std::thread(&WebSocketServer::handleConnection, this, clientFd));
+            _workers[clientFd] = std::thread(&WebSocketServer::handleConnection, this, clientFd);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketServer.h b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketServer.h
index d562e443..a118f52e 100644
--- a/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketServer.h
+++ b/ixwebsocket/IXWebSocketServer.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 #include <utility> // pair
 #include <string>
-#include <vector>
+#include <map>
 #include <thread>
 #include <functional>
 
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ namespace ix
         // socket for accepting connections
         int _serverFd;
 
-        // FIXME: we never reclaim space in this array ...
-        std::vector<std::thread> _workers;
+        std::map<int, std::thread> _workers;
     };
 }