diff --git a/src/core/unit.c b/src/core/unit.c
index c8f4c7ce0c..0df09d0d56 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.c
+++ b/src/core/unit.c
@@ -964,7 +964,7 @@ int unit_add_exec_dependencies(Unit *u, ExecContext *c) {
         assert(u);
         assert(c);
 
-        if (c->working_directory) {
+        if (c->working_directory && !c->working_directory_missing_ok) {
                 r = unit_require_mounts_for(u, c->working_directory, UNIT_DEPENDENCY_FILE);
                 if (r < 0)
                         return r;