diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 02d8549..7896f6a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,3 +23,18 @@ Support for futures is based on an approach sketched out by members of the `rayo
 Forte is distributed under the terms of both the MIT license and the Apache License (Version 2.0).
 See LICENSE-APACHE and LICENSE-MIT for details.
 Opening a pull request is assumed to signal agreement with these licensing terms.
+
+## Shutdown semantics
+
+Heap-allocated jobs created via `HeapJob::into_job_ref` are owned by the
+job reference and will be dropped when executed. If a `JobRef` is placed
+into the shared injector but never executed (for example, if the pool is
+shut down before the job is drained) the allocation may be leaked. This is
+an intentional tradeoff to avoid adding complex bookkeeping to the fast
+path of job scheduling.
+
+If you need to ensure that all remaining shared jobs are executed (and thus
+freed) before shutdown, call `ThreadPool::drain_execute()` which will run
+remaining shared jobs on the calling thread. Note this drains only the
+shared injector queue; work that remains in other workers' local deques may
+not be reachable by this call.
diff --git a/src/thread_pool.rs b/src/thread_pool.rs
index 24017fa..b32d75a 100644
--- a/src/thread_pool.rs
+++ b/src/thread_pool.rs
@@ -647,6 +647,22 @@ impl ThreadPool {
         work.spawn(self, None)
     }
 
+    /// Drain and execute any remaining shared jobs on the calling thread.
+    ///
+    /// This is useful during shutdown if you want to ensure that heap-allocated
+    /// jobs are actually executed (and therefore dropped) rather than being
+    /// leaked in the shared queue. This will claim a temporary worker for the
+    /// current thread and execute items from the shared queue until it is
+    /// empty. Note that this only drains the shared injector queue; jobs that
+    /// remain in other workers' local deques cannot be accessed here.
+    pub fn drain_execute(&'static self) {
+        self.with_worker(|worker| {
+            while let Some(job_ref) = self.shared_jobs.pop() {
+                worker.execute(job_ref, true);
+            }
+        })
+    }
+
     /// Blocks the thread waiting for a future to complete.
     ///
     /// See also: [`Worker::block_on`] and [`block_on`].