diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d426b1910..808974e26 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ CGO_ENABLED := 1
 
 SHA := $(shell git rev-parse --short=8 HEAD)
 GITVERSION := $(shell git describe --long --all)
-BUILDDATE := $(shell date --rfc-3339=seconds)
+# gnu date format iso-8601 is parsable with Go RFC3339
+BUILDDATE := $(shell date --iso-8601=seconds)
 VERSION := $(or ${VERSION},$(shell git describe --tags --exact-match 2> /dev/null || git symbolic-ref -q --short HEAD || git rev-parse --short HEAD))
 
 MINI_LAB_KUBECONFIG := $(shell pwd)/../mini-lab/.kubeconfig