diff --git a/.github/workflows/gha-e2e-tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/gha-e2e-tests.yaml
index 9b6861b5..713db048 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gha-e2e-tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gha-e2e-tests.yaml
@@ -880,3 +880,98 @@ jobs:
           helm uninstall "${{ steps.install_arc.outputs.ARC_NAME }}" --namespace "arc-runners" --debug
           kubectl wait --timeout=10s --for=delete AutoScalingRunnerSet -n "${{ steps.install_arc.outputs.ARC_NAME }}" -l app.kubernetes.io/instance="${{ steps.install_arc.outputs.ARC_NAME }}"
           kubectl logs deployment/arc-gha-rs-controller -n "arc-systems"
+
+  init-with-min-runners:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 20
+    if: github.event_name != 'pull_request' || github.event.pull_request.head.repo.id == github.repository_id
+    env:
+      WORKFLOW_FILE: arc-test-workflow.yaml
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.head_ref }}
+
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/setup-arc-e2e
+        id: setup
+        with:
+          app-id: ${{secrets.E2E_TESTS_ACCESS_APP_ID}}
+          app-pk: ${{secrets.E2E_TESTS_ACCESS_PK}}
+          image-name: ${{env.IMAGE_NAME}}
+          image-tag: ${{env.IMAGE_VERSION}}
+          target-org: ${{env.TARGET_ORG}}
+
+      - name: Install gha-runner-scale-set-controller
+        id: install_arc_controller
+        run: |
+          helm install arc \
+          --namespace "arc-systems" \
+          --create-namespace \
+          --set image.repository=${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }} \
+          --set image.tag=${{ env.IMAGE_VERSION }} \
+          --set flags.updateStrategy="eventual" \
+          ./charts/gha-runner-scale-set-controller \
+          --debug
+          count=0
+          while true; do
+            POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods -n arc-systems -l app.kubernetes.io/name=gha-rs-controller -o name)
+            if [ -n "$POD_NAME" ]; then
+              echo "Pod found: $POD_NAME"
+              break
+            fi
+            if [ "$count" -ge 60 ]; then
+              echo "Timeout waiting for controller pod with label app.kubernetes.io/name=gha-rs-controller"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+            sleep 1
+            count=$((count+1))
+          done
+          kubectl wait --timeout=30s --for=condition=ready pod -n arc-systems -l app.kubernetes.io/name=gha-rs-controller
+          kubectl get pod -n arc-systems
+          kubectl describe deployment arc-gha-rs-controller -n arc-systems
+
+      - name: Install gha-runner-scale-set
+        id: install_arc
+        run: |
+          ARC_NAME=${{github.job}}-$(date +'%M%S')$((($RANDOM + 100) % 100 + 1))
+          helm install "$ARC_NAME" \
+          --namespace "arc-runners" \
+          --create-namespace \
+          --set githubConfigUrl="https://github.com/${{ env.TARGET_ORG }}/${{env.TARGET_REPO}}" \
+          --set githubConfigSecret.github_token="${{ steps.setup.outputs.token }}" \
+          --set minRunners=5 \
+          ./charts/gha-runner-scale-set \
+          --debug
+          echo "ARC_NAME=$ARC_NAME" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          count=0
+          while true; do
+            POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods -n arc-systems -l actions.github.com/scale-set-name=$ARC_NAME -o name)
+            if [ -n "$POD_NAME" ]; then
+              echo "Pod found: $POD_NAME"
+              break
+            fi
+            if [ "$count" -ge 60 ]; then
+              echo "Timeout waiting for listener pod with label actions.github.com/scale-set-name=$ARC_NAME"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+            sleep 1
+            count=$((count+1))
+          done
+          kubectl wait --timeout=30s --for=condition=ready pod -n arc-systems -l actions.github.com/scale-set-name=$ARC_NAME
+          kubectl get pod -n arc-systems
+      - name: Ensure 5 runners are up
+        run: |
+          count=0
+          while true; do
+            pod_count=$(kubectl get pods -n arc-runners --no-headers | wc -l)
+            if [[ "$pod_count" = 5 ]]; then
+              echo "5 pods are up!"
+              break
+            fi
+            if [[ "$count" -ge 12 ]]; then
+              echo "Timeout waiting for 5 pods to be created"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+            sleep 1
+            count=$((count+1))
+          done
diff --git a/charts/gha-runner-scale-set/values.yaml b/charts/gha-runner-scale-set/values.yaml
index cedb44be..021fecb9 100644
--- a/charts/gha-runner-scale-set/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/gha-runner-scale-set/values.yaml
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ githubConfigSecret:
 ## maxRunners is the max number of runners the autoscaling runner set will scale up to.
 # maxRunners: 5
 
-## minRunners is the min number of runners the autoscaling runner set will scale down to.
+## minRunners is the min number of idle runners. The target number of runners created will be
+## calculated as a sum of minRunners and the number of jobs assigned to the scale set.
 # minRunners: 0
 
 # runnerGroup: "default"
diff --git a/cmd/ghalistener/worker/worker.go b/cmd/ghalistener/worker/worker.go
index 12fd4d79..f9d7b7db 100644
--- a/cmd/ghalistener/worker/worker.go
+++ b/cmd/ghalistener/worker/worker.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"math"
 
 	"github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller/apis/actions.github.com/v1alpha1"
 	"github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller/cmd/ghalistener/listener"
@@ -158,7 +157,9 @@ func (w *Worker) HandleJobStarted(ctx context.Context, jobInfo *actions.JobStart
 // Finally, it logs the scaled ephemeral runner set details and returns nil if successful.
 // If any error occurs during the process, it returns an error with a descriptive message.
 func (w *Worker) HandleDesiredRunnerCount(ctx context.Context, count int) error {
-	targetRunnerCount := int(math.Max(math.Min(float64(w.config.MaxRunners), float64(count)), float64(w.config.MinRunners)))
+	// Max runners should always be set by the resource builder either to the configured value,
+	// or the maximum int32 (resourcebuilder.newAutoScalingListener()).
+	targetRunnerCount := min(w.config.MinRunners+count, w.config.MaxRunners)
 
 	logValues := []any{
 		"assigned job", count,
@@ -187,7 +188,7 @@ func (w *Worker) HandleDesiredRunnerCount(ctx context.Context, count int) error
 	patch, err := json.Marshal(
 		&v1alpha1.EphemeralRunnerSet{
 			Spec: v1alpha1.EphemeralRunnerSetSpec{
-				Replicas: count,
+				Replicas: targetRunnerCount,
 			},
 		},
 	)
diff --git a/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/autoScalerService.go b/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/autoScalerService.go
index f76adf7b..b8e14521 100644
--- a/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/autoScalerService.go
+++ b/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/autoScalerService.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"math"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/actions/actions-runner-controller/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/config"
@@ -206,7 +205,9 @@ func (s *Service) processMessage(message *actions.RunnerScaleSetMessage) error {
 }
 
 func (s *Service) scaleForAssignedJobCount(count int) error {
-	targetRunnerCount := int(math.Max(math.Min(float64(s.settings.MaxRunners), float64(count)), float64(s.settings.MinRunners)))
+	// Max runners should always be set by the resource builder either to the configured value,
+	// or the maximum int32 (resourcebuilder.newAutoScalingListener()).
+	targetRunnerCount := min(s.settings.MinRunners+count, s.settings.MaxRunners)
 	s.metricsExporter.publishDesiredRunners(targetRunnerCount)
 	if targetRunnerCount != s.currentRunnerCount {
 		s.logger.Info("try scale runner request up/down base on assigned job count",
diff --git a/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/autoScalerService_test.go b/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/autoScalerService_test.go
index 23db17cd..d0e54545 100644
--- a/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/autoScalerService_test.go
+++ b/cmd/githubrunnerscalesetlistener/autoScalerService_test.go
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ func TestProcessMessage_MultipleMessages(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mockRsClient.On("AcquireJobsForRunnerScaleSet", ctx, mock.MatchedBy(func(ids []int64) bool { return ids[0] == 3 && ids[1] == 4 })).Return(nil).Once()
-	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 2).Run(func(args mock.Arguments) { cancel() }).Return(nil).Once()
+	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 3).Run(func(args mock.Arguments) { cancel() }).Return(nil).Once()
 
 	err = service.processMessage(&actions.RunnerScaleSetMessage{
 		MessageId:   1,
@@ -523,9 +523,9 @@ func TestScaleForAssignedJobCount_ScaleWithinMinMax(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 1).Return(nil).Once()
-	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 3).Return(nil).Once()
+	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 4).Return(nil).Once()
 	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 5).Return(nil).Once()
-	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 1).Return(nil).Once()
+	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 2).Return(nil).Once()
 	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 5).Return(nil).Once()
 
 	err = service.scaleForAssignedJobCount(0)
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ func TestScaleForAssignedJobCount_ScaleFailed(t *testing.T) {
 	)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
-	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 2).Return(fmt.Errorf("error"))
+	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 3).Return(fmt.Errorf("error"))
 
 	err = service.scaleForAssignedJobCount(2)
 
@@ -605,8 +605,23 @@ func TestProcessMessage_JobStartedMessage(t *testing.T) {
 
 	service.currentRunnerCount = 1
 
-	mockKubeManager.On("UpdateEphemeralRunnerWithJobInfo", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, "runner1", "owner1", "repo1", ".github/workflows/ci.yaml", "job1", int64(100), int64(3)).Run(func(args mock.Arguments) { cancel() }).Return(nil).Once()
+	mockKubeManager.On(
+		"UpdateEphemeralRunnerWithJobInfo",
+		ctx,
+		service.settings.Namespace,
+		"runner1",
+		"owner1",
+		"repo1",
+		".github/workflows/ci.yaml",
+		"job1",
+		int64(100),
+		int64(3),
+	).Run(
+		func(_ mock.Arguments) { cancel() },
+	).Return(nil).Once()
+
 	mockRsClient.On("AcquireJobsForRunnerScaleSet", ctx, mock.MatchedBy(func(ids []int64) bool { return len(ids) == 0 })).Return(nil).Once()
+	mockKubeManager.On("ScaleEphemeralRunnerSet", ctx, service.settings.Namespace, service.settings.ResourceName, 2).Return(nil)
 
 	err = service.processMessage(&actions.RunnerScaleSetMessage{
 		MessageId:   1,
diff --git a/docs/adrs/2023-11-02-min-runners-strategy.md b/docs/adrs/2023-11-02-min-runners-semantics.md
similarity index 98%
rename from docs/adrs/2023-11-02-min-runners-strategy.md
rename to docs/adrs/2023-11-02-min-runners-semantics.md
index ace4061f..6dc482db 100644
--- a/docs/adrs/2023-11-02-min-runners-strategy.md
+++ b/docs/adrs/2023-11-02-min-runners-semantics.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Changing semantics of the `minRunners` field
 
-**Status**: Proposed
+**Status**: Accepted
 
 ## Context