diff --git a/pkg/util/helper/work.go b/pkg/util/helper/work.go
index 987a3dc8e709..9fe32047eda9 100644
--- a/pkg/util/helper/work.go
+++ b/pkg/util/helper/work.go
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/equality"
+	apierrors "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/fields"
@@ -80,7 +82,7 @@ func CreateOrUpdateWork(ctx context.Context, client client.Client, workMeta meta
 	runtimeObject := work.DeepCopy()
 	var operationResult controllerutil.OperationResult
 	err = retry.RetryOnConflict(retry.DefaultRetry, func() (err error) {
-		operationResult, err = controllerutil.CreateOrUpdate(ctx, client, runtimeObject, func() error {
+		operationResult, err = createOrUpdateWork(ctx, client, runtimeObject, func() error {
 			if !runtimeObject.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() {
 				return fmt.Errorf("work %s/%s is being deleted", runtimeObject.GetNamespace(), runtimeObject.GetName())
 			}
@@ -109,6 +111,63 @@ func CreateOrUpdateWork(ctx context.Context, client client.Client, workMeta meta
 	return nil
 }
 
+// createOrUpdateWork is a fork of sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/controller/controllerutil.CreateOrUpdate().
+// We modified it to avoid performing deep-equality checks on workloads represented as byte slices.
+func createOrUpdateWork(ctx context.Context, c client.Client, obj *workv1alpha1.Work, f controllerutil.MutateFn) (controllerutil.OperationResult, error) {
+	key := client.ObjectKeyFromObject(obj)
+	if err := c.Get(ctx, key, obj); err != nil {
+		if !apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
+			return controllerutil.OperationResultNone, err
+		}
+		if err := mutate(f, key, obj); err != nil {
+			return controllerutil.OperationResultNone, err
+		}
+		if err := c.Create(ctx, obj); err != nil {
+			return controllerutil.OperationResultNone, err
+		}
+		return controllerutil.OperationResultCreated, nil
+	}
+
+	existing := obj.DeepCopy()
+	if err := mutate(f, key, obj); err != nil {
+		return controllerutil.OperationResultNone, err
+	}
+
+	existingWorkloads, err := unmarshalWorkManifests(existing)
+	if err != nil {
+		return controllerutil.OperationResultNone, err
+	}
+	desiredWorkloads, err := unmarshalWorkManifests(obj)
+	if err != nil {
+		return controllerutil.OperationResultNone, err
+	}
+	workloadEqual := equality.Semantic.DeepEqual(existingWorkloads, desiredWorkloads)
+
+	existing.Spec.Workload.Manifests = nil
+	objCopy := obj.DeepCopy()
+	objCopy.Spec.Workload.Manifests = nil
+	if workloadEqual && equality.Semantic.DeepEqual(existing, objCopy) {
+		return controllerutil.OperationResultNone, nil
+	}
+
+	if err := c.Update(ctx, obj); err != nil {
+		return controllerutil.OperationResultNone, err
+	}
+	return controllerutil.OperationResultUpdated, nil
+}
+
+func unmarshalWorkManifests(work *workv1alpha1.Work) ([]*unstructured.Unstructured, error) {
+	ret := make([]*unstructured.Unstructured, 0, len(work.Spec.Workload.Manifests))
+	for _, manifest := range work.Spec.Workload.Manifests {
+		obj := &unstructured.Unstructured{}
+		if err := obj.UnmarshalJSON(manifest.Raw); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		ret = append(ret, obj)
+	}
+	return ret, nil
+}
+
 // GetWorksByLabelsSet gets WorkList by matching labels.Set.
 func GetWorksByLabelsSet(ctx context.Context, c client.Client, ls labels.Set) (*workv1alpha1.WorkList, error) {
 	workList := &workv1alpha1.WorkList{}