diff --git a/charts/deployment-operator/Chart.yaml b/charts/deployment-operator/Chart.yaml
index 7f771124..f923bb98 100644
--- a/charts/deployment-operator/Chart.yaml
+++ b/charts/deployment-operator/Chart.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ apiVersion: v2
 name: deployment-operator
 description: creates a new instance of the plural deployment operator
 type: application
-version: 0.4.5
+version: 0.4.6
 appVersion: "0.4.5"
 maintainers:
 - name: Plural
diff --git a/charts/deployment-operator/templates/deployment.yaml b/charts/deployment-operator/templates/deployment.yaml
index 8e2b8740..88759787 100644
--- a/charts/deployment-operator/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/charts/deployment-operator/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ spec:
       {{- end }}
       labels:
         {{- include "deployment-operator.selectorLabels" . | nindent 8 }}
+      {{- with .Values.podLabels }}
+        {{- toYaml . | nindent 8 }}
+      {{- end }}
     spec:
       {{- with .Values.imagePullSecrets }}
       imagePullSecrets:
diff --git a/charts/deployment-operator/values.yaml b/charts/deployment-operator/values.yaml
index 03bccffa..3eda9a8c 100644
--- a/charts/deployment-operator/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/deployment-operator/values.yaml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ serviceAccount:
 rbac:
   clusterRole: cluster-admin
 
+podLabels: {}
 podAnnotations: {}
 #  prometheus.io/scrape: "true"
 #  prometheus.io/path: "/metrics"
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 1bfdc511..79567307 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ module github.com/pluralsh/deployment-operator
 go 1.21
 
 require (
+	dario.cat/mergo v1.0.0
 	github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3 v3.2.1
 	github.com/Masterminds/sprig/v3 v3.2.3
 	github.com/Yamashou/gqlgenc v0.14.0
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index fa4c7d27..30c10fc5 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ cloud.google.com/go/storage v1.6.0/go.mod h1:N7U0C8pVQ/+NIKOBQyamJIeKQKkZ+mxpohl
 cloud.google.com/go/storage v1.8.0/go.mod h1:Wv1Oy7z6Yz3DshWRJFhqM/UCfaWIRTdp0RXyy7KQOVs=
 cloud.google.com/go/storage v1.10.0/go.mod h1:FLPqc6j+Ki4BU591ie1oL6qBQGu2Bl/tZ9ullr3+Kg0=
 cloud.google.com/go/storage v1.14.0/go.mod h1:GrKmX003DSIwi9o29oFT7YDnHYwZoctc3fOKtUw0Xmo=
+dario.cat/mergo v1.0.0 h1:AGCNq9Evsj31mOgNPcLyXc+4PNABt905YmuqPYYpBWk=
+dario.cat/mergo v1.0.0/go.mod h1:uNxQE+84aUszobStD9th8a29P2fMDhsBdgRYvZOxGmk=
 dmitri.shuralyov.com/gpu/mtl v0.0.0-20190408044501-666a987793e9/go.mod h1:H6x//7gZCb22OMCxBHrMx7a5I7Hp++hsVxbQ4BYO7hU=
 github.com/Azure/go-ansiterm v0.0.0-20210617225240-d185dfc1b5a1 h1:UQHMgLO+TxOElx5B5HZ4hJQsoJ/PvUvKRhJHDQXO8P8=
 github.com/Azure/go-ansiterm v0.0.0-20210617225240-d185dfc1b5a1/go.mod h1:xomTg63KZ2rFqZQzSB4Vz2SUXa1BpHTVz9L5PTmPC4E=
diff --git a/pkg/manifests/template/helm.go b/pkg/manifests/template/helm.go
index 0bde5a6a..478f80ee 100644
--- a/pkg/manifests/template/helm.go
+++ b/pkg/manifests/template/helm.go
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ func (h *helm) values(svc *console.ServiceDeploymentExtended) (map[string]interf
 			if err != nil {
 				return currentMap, err
 			}
-			currentMap = lo.Assign(currentMap, nextMap)
+			currentMap = merge(currentMap, nextMap)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -166,7 +166,28 @@ func (h *helm) values(svc *console.ServiceDeploymentExtended) (map[string]interf
 		return currentMap, nil
 	}
 
-	return lo.Assign(currentMap, overrides), nil
+	return merge(currentMap, overrides), nil
+}
+
+func merge(m1, m2 map[string]interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
+	// lifted from helm's merge code
+	out := make(map[string]interface{}, len(m1))
+	for k, v := range m1 {
+		out[k] = v
+	}
+
+	for k, v := range m2 {
+		if v, ok := v.(map[string]interface{}); ok {
+			if bv, ok := out[k]; ok {
+				if bv, ok := bv.(map[string]interface{}); ok {
+					out[k] = merge(bv, v)
+					continue
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		out[k] = v
+	}
+	return out
 }
 
 func (h *helm) valuesFile(svc *console.ServiceDeploymentExtended, filename string) (map[string]interface{}, error) {