diff --git a/src/collection.cpp b/src/collection.cpp
index 282eca0b..f658e359 100644
--- a/src/collection.cpp
+++ b/src/collection.cpp
@@ -349,6 +349,9 @@ Option<bool> Collection::add_reference_helper_fields(nlohmann::json& document, c
                 filter_query += ",";
             }
             if (!filter_values_added) {
+                document[reference_helper_field] = nlohmann::json::array();
+                document[fields::reference_helper_fields] += reference_helper_field;
+
                 continue;
             }
             filter_query[filter_query.size() - 1] = ']';
diff --git a/test/collection_join_test.cpp b/test/collection_join_test.cpp
index 5e7e6b9c..1f89adea 100644
--- a/test/collection_join_test.cpp
+++ b/test/collection_join_test.cpp
@@ -1408,7 +1408,7 @@ TEST_F(CollectionJoinTest, JoinAfterUpdateOfArrayField) {
     ASSERT_EQ(1, res["hits"][0]["document"]["bodyParts"].size());
     ASSERT_EQ(1, res["hits"][0]["document"]["parts"].size());
 
-    exercise_doc["bodyParts"] = {};
+    exercise_doc["bodyParts"] = nlohmann::json::array();
     ASSERT_TRUE(exercise_coll->add(exercise_doc.dump(), UPDATE).ok());
 
     req_params = {