diff --git a/tools/worker/work_processor.cc b/tools/worker/work_processor.cc
index 32dc74d77..6e4c8fdb1 100644
--- a/tools/worker/work_processor.cc
+++ b/tools/worker/work_processor.cc
@@ -129,8 +129,10 @@ void WorkProcessor::ProcessWorkRequest(
       // incremental storage area.
       auto dir_path = Dirname(expected_object_pair.second);
       if (!MakeDirs(dir_path, S_IRWXU)) {
-        std::cerr << "Could not create directory " << dir_path << " (errno "
-                  << errno << ")\n";
+        stderr_stream << "swift_worker: Could not create directory " << dir_path
+                      << " (errno " << errno << ")\n";
+        FinalizeWorkRequest(request, response, EXIT_FAILURE, stderr_stream);
+        return;
       }
     }