diff --git a/lib/que/web.rb b/lib/que/web.rb
index 0008a92..4ef77c5 100644
--- a/lib/que/web.rb
+++ b/lib/que/web.rb
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ def format_error(job)
       end
 
       def relative_time(time)
+        time = Time.utc((t = Date._parse(time))[:year], t[:mon], t[:mday], t[:hour], t[:min], t[:sec]) if time.is_a?(String)
         %{<time class="timeago" datetime="#{time.utc.iso8601}">#{time.utc}</time>}
       end
 
diff --git a/spec/web_spec.rb b/spec/web_spec.rb
index 49170ff..f3ebab3 100644
--- a/spec/web_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/web_spec.rb
@@ -72,4 +72,20 @@ def error_job(last_error)
       end
     end
   end
+
+  describe '#relative_time' do
+    it 'renders a Time object as a <time> HTML element' do
+      time = Time.now
+      _(subject.relative_time(time)).must_equal(
+        %Q(<time class="timeago" datetime="#{time.utc.iso8601}">#{time.utc}</time>)
+      )
+    end
+
+    it 'renders a String object without timezone in the format "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" (e.g. "2020-09-06 22:17:03") as a <time> HTML element' do
+      time = '2020-09-06 22:17:03'
+      _(subject.relative_time(time)).must_equal(
+        %Q(<time class="timeago" datetime="2020-09-06T22:17:03Z">2020-09-06 22:17:03 UTC</time>)
+      )
+    end
+  end
 end