A method of selectively assigning virtual CPUs (vCPUs) of a virtual machine (VM) to physical CPUs (pCPUs), where execution of the VM is supported by a hypervisor running on a hardware platform including the pCPUs, includes determining that a first vCPU of the vCPUs is scheduled to execute a latency-sensitive workload of the VM and a second vCPU of the vCPUs is scheduled to execute a non-latency-sensitive workload of the VM and assigning the first vCPU to a first pCPU of the pCPUs and the second vCPU to a second pCPU of the pCPUs. A kernel component of the hypervisor pins the assignment of the first vCPU to the first pCPU and does not pin the assignment of the second vCPU to the second pCPU. The method further comprises selectively tagging or not tagging by a user or an automated tool, a plurality of workloads of the VM as latency-sensitive.