diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index b1932a7..c8b14f1 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ RUN /opt/jupyter/bin/pip install \
 # create a user, since we don't want to run as root
 RUN useradd -m jupyter
 ENV HOME=/home/jupyter
-WORKDIR $HOME
+RUN mkdir $HOME/work
+RUN chown jupyter:jupyter $HOME/work
+WORKDIR $HOME/work
 USER jupyter
 
 # set the default command