diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/podio/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/podio/package.py
index c6fb756e45b..581a53f0bb8 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/podio/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/podio/package.py
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ def cmake_args(self):
             self.define_from_variant("ENABLE_SIO", "sio"),
             self.define_from_variant("ENABLE_RNTUPLE", "rntuple"),
             self.define_from_variant("ENABLE_DATASOURCE", "datasource"),
+            self.define("PODIO_SET_RPATH", True),
             self.define("CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD", self.spec.variants["cxxstd"].value),
             self.define("BUILD_TESTING", self.run_tests),
         ]