diff --git a/pkg/cli/cmds/etcd_snapshot.go b/pkg/cli/cmds/etcd_snapshot.go
index 4fa6064a16..1b5a777172 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/cmds/etcd_snapshot.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/cmds/etcd_snapshot.go
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package cmds
 
 import (
+	"time"
+
 	"github.com/rancher/k3s/pkg/version"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli"
 )
@@ -84,9 +86,9 @@ var EtcdSnapshotFlags = []cli.Flag{
 	},
 	&cli.DurationFlag{
 		Name:        "s3-timeout,etcd-s3-timeout",
-		Usage:       "(db) S3 timeout in seconds",
+		Usage:       "(db) S3 timeout",
 		Destination: &ServerConfig.EtcdS3Timeout,
-		Value:       30,
+		Value:       30 * time.Second,
 	},
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/cli/cmds/server.go b/pkg/cli/cmds/server.go
index 361d31fa08..550cc8ce2b 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/cmds/server.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/cmds/server.go
@@ -341,9 +341,9 @@ func NewServerCommand(action func(*cli.Context) error) cli.Command {
 			},
 			&cli.DurationFlag{
 				Name:        "etcd-s3-timeout",
-				Usage:       "(db) S3 timeout in seconds",
+				Usage:       "(db) S3 timeout",
 				Destination: &ServerConfig.EtcdS3Timeout,
-				Value:       30,
+				Value:       30 * time.Second,
 			},
 			cli.StringFlag{
 				Name:        "default-local-storage-path",