diff --git a/plugins/people_block/test/unit/friends_block_test.rb b/plugins/people_block/test/unit/friends_block_test.rb
index 004360a..fa0baa9 100644
--- a/plugins/people_block/test/unit/friends_block_test.rb
+++ b/plugins/people_block/test/unit/friends_block_test.rb
@@ -154,22 +154,6 @@ class FriendsBlockViewTest < ActionView::TestCase
     assert_tag_in_string render_block_footer(block), tag: 'a', attributes: {class: 'view-all', href: '/profile/mytestperson/friends' }
   end
 
-  FACTOR = 1.8
-
-  # Testing blog page display. It should not present a linear increase in time
-  # needed to display a blog page with the increase in number of posts.
-  #
-  # GOOD          BAD
-  #
-  # ^             ^     /
-  # |             |    /
-  # |   _____     |   /
-  # |  /          |  /
-  # | /           | /
-  # |/            |/
-  # +--------->   +--------->
-  # 0  50  100    0  50  100
-  #
   should 'not have a linear increase in time to display friends block' do
     owner = fast_create(Person)
     owner.boxes<< Box.new
@@ -205,7 +189,7 @@ class FriendsBlockViewTest < ActionView::TestCase
     # the inclination of the second segment.
     a1 = (time1.total - time0.total)/50.0
     a2 = (time2.total - time1.total)/50.0
-    assert a1 > a2*FACTOR, "#{a1} should be larger than #{a2} by at least a factor of #{FACTOR}"
+    assert a1 > a2*NON_LINEAR_FACTOR, "#{a1} should be larger than #{a2} by at least a factor of #{NON_LINEAR_FACTOR}"
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/plugins/people_block/test/unit/members_block_test.rb b/plugins/people_block/test/unit/members_block_test.rb
index ad3cc5f..882a259 100644
--- a/plugins/people_block/test/unit/members_block_test.rb
+++ b/plugins/people_block/test/unit/members_block_test.rb
@@ -307,22 +307,6 @@ class MembersBlockViewTest < ActionView::TestCase
     end
   end
 
-  FACTOR = 1.8
-
-  # Testing blog page display. It should not present a linear increase in time
-  # needed to display a blog page with the increase in number of posts.
-  #
-  # GOOD          BAD
-  #
-  # ^             ^     /
-  # |             |    /
-  # |   _____     |   /
-  # |  /          |  /
-  # | /           | /
-  # |/            |/
-  # +--------->   +--------->
-  # 0  50  100    0  50  100
-  #
   should 'not have a linear increase in time to display members block' do
     owner = fast_create(Community)
     owner.boxes<< Box.new
@@ -359,7 +343,7 @@ class MembersBlockViewTest < ActionView::TestCase
     # the inclination of the second segment.
     a1 = (time1.total - time0.total)/50.0
     a2 = (time2.total - time1.total)/50.0
-    assert a1 > a2*FACTOR, "#{a1} should be larger than #{a2} by at least a factor of #{FACTOR}"
+    assert a1 > a2*NON_LINEAR_FACTOR, "#{a1} should be larger than #{a2} by at least a factor of #{NON_LINEAR_FACTOR}"
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/plugins/people_block/test/unit/people_block_test.rb b/plugins/people_block/test/unit/people_block_test.rb
index 4de9470..74a6a45 100644
--- a/plugins/people_block/test/unit/people_block_test.rb
+++ b/plugins/people_block/test/unit/people_block_test.rb
@@ -146,22 +146,6 @@ class PeopleBlockViewTest < ActionView::TestCase
     end
   end
 
-  FACTOR = 1.8
-
-  # Testing blog page display. It should not present a linear increase in time
-  # needed to display a blog page with the increase in number of posts.
-  #
-  # GOOD          BAD
-  #
-  # ^             ^     /
-  # |             |    /
-  # |   _____     |   /
-  # |  /          |  /
-  # | /           | /
-  # |/            |/
-  # +--------->   +--------->
-  # 0  50  100    0  50  100
-  #
   should 'not have a linear increase in time to display people block' do
     owner = fast_create(Environment)
     owner.boxes<< Box.new
@@ -195,7 +179,7 @@ class PeopleBlockViewTest < ActionView::TestCase
     # the inclination of the second segment.
     a1 = (time1.total - time0.total)/50.0
     a2 = (time2.total - time1.total)/50.0
-    assert a1 > a2*FACTOR, "#{a1} should be larger than #{a2} by at least a factor of #{FACTOR}"
+    assert a1 > a2*NON_LINEAR_FACTOR, "#{a1} should be larger than #{a2} by at least a factor of #{NON_LINEAR_FACTOR}"
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/test/integration/performance_test.rb b/test/integration/performance_test.rb
index 7e9f910..f09dc8d 100644
--- a/test/integration/performance_test.rb
+++ b/test/integration/performance_test.rb
@@ -5,22 +5,6 @@ class PerformanceTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
 
   all_fixtures
 
-  FACTOR = 1.8
-
-  # Testing blog page display. It should not present a linear increase in time
-  # needed to display a blog page with the increase in number of posts.
-  #
-  # GOOD          BAD
-  #
-  # ^             ^     /
-  # |             |    /
-  # |   _____     |   /
-  # |  /          |  /
-  # | /           | /
-  # |/            |/
-  # +--------->   +--------->
-  # 0  50  100    0  50  100
-  #
   should 'not have a linear increase in time to display a blog page' do
     person = create_profile('clueless')
 
@@ -50,7 +34,7 @@ class PerformanceTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
     # the inclination of the second segment.
     a1 = (time1.total - time0.total)/50.0
     a2 = (time2.total - time1.total)/50.0
-    assert a1 > a2*FACTOR, "#{a1} should be larger than #{a2} by at least a factor of #{FACTOR}"
+    assert a1 > a2*NON_LINEAR_FACTOR, "#{a1} should be larger than #{a2} by at least a factor of #{NON_LINEAR_FACTOR}"
   end
   protected
 
diff --git a/test/support/performance_helper.rb b/test/support/performance_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4856de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/support/performance_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+module PerformanceHelper
+
+  # Testing blog page display. It should not present a linear increase in time
+  # needed to display a blog page with the increase in number of posts.
+  #
+  # GOOD          BAD
+  #
+  # ^             ^     /
+  # |             |    /
+  # |   _____     |   /
+  # |  /          |  /
+  # | /           | /
+  # |/            |/
+  # +--------->   +--------->
+  # 0  50  100    0  50  100
+  #
+  # On the travis/gitlab CI this can vary with servers' IO load, so
+  # we soften to avoid failures
+  #
+  NON_LINEAR_FACTOR = unless ENV['CI'] then 1.8 else 1.0 end
+
+end
+
diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index 3495ef3..b963dca 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ require_relative 'support/controller_test_case'
 require_relative 'support/authenticated_test_helper'
 require_relative 'support/action_tracker_test_helper'
 require_relative 'support/noosfero_doc_test'
+require_relative 'support/performance_helper'
 require_relative 'support/noosfero_test_helper'
 
 FileUtils.rm_rf(Rails.root.join('index', 'test'))
@@ -60,6 +61,8 @@ class ActiveSupport::TestCase
 
   include AuthenticatedTestHelper
 
+  include PerformanceHelper
+
   extend Test::Should
 
   fixtures :environments, :roles
--
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