diff --git a/src/workgroups-functions.el b/src/workgroups-functions.el
index d588a6ad2828359f7913823e20bbeafa7a4fce21..7c1e7efb492466d5ec95b0521a40028c66f09b01 100644
--- a/src/workgroups-functions.el
+++ b/src/workgroups-functions.el
@@ -1620,9 +1620,10 @@ for display by `other-buffer' in the current workgroup."
 
 (defun wg-add-mode-line-display ()
   "Add Workgroups' mode-line format to `mode-line-format'."
-  (unless (assq 'wg-mode-line-display-on mode-line-format)
+  (unless (or (assq 'wg-mode-line-display-on mode-line-format)
+              wg-mode-line-disable)
     (let ((format '(wg-mode-line-display-on (:eval (wg-mode-line-string))))
-          (pos (wg-position 'mode-line-position mode-line-format)))
+          (pos (or (wg-position 'mode-line-position mode-line-format) 10)))
       (set-default 'mode-line-format
                    (wg-insert-after format mode-line-format pos))
       (force-mode-line-update))))
diff --git a/src/workgroups-variables.el b/src/workgroups-variables.el
index 47d828ae28d9a964b2fc60bf821cde46b55687d0..8e8d4975e8763da91b9802bf797b0616254367d0 100644
--- a/src/workgroups-variables.el
+++ b/src/workgroups-variables.el
@@ -599,6 +599,11 @@ and inactive mode-lines, so this feature defaults to off."
   :type 'boolean
   :group 'workgroups)
 
+(defcustom wg-mode-line-disable (featurep 'powerline)
+  "Do not do any modeline modifications."
+  :type 'boolean
+  :group 'workgroups)
+
 (defcustom wg-mode-line-only-name t
   "Display only workgroup name in modeline without any flags."
   :type 'boolean