diff --git a/jupyterhub/base/Dockerfile b/jupyterhub/base/Dockerfile
index 6eab4a850369bc3d8f380f180c31e1bd3dc475eb..ae9492bb7183db0ef9d128dc5e0bcadddf878c99 100755
--- a/jupyterhub/base/Dockerfile
+++ b/jupyterhub/base/Dockerfile
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ RUN curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | bash - && \
     npm config set cache /var/cache/npm --global && \
     npm config set update-notifier false --global
 
+ENV HOME=/home
 ENV XDG_DATA_HOME=/usr/local/share
 ENV IPYTHONDIR=/usr/local/etc/ipython
 ENV JUPYTER_CONFIG_DIR=/usr/local/etc/jupyter
@@ -83,5 +84,5 @@ RUN mkdir -p /usr/local/venv && \
 
 RUN chmod -x /etc/update-motd.d/*
 
-WORKDIR "/root"
+WORKDIR "${HOME}"
 CMD [ "jupyterhub-singleuser" ]