Good productive employees are essential for every organization because it creates great working environment and increases overall productivity which leads to large profitability, favourable economic growth and better social progress. Low staff productivity prevents profitability and results to poor customer satisfaction which may result to loss of business for an organization. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between extrinsic motivation and employee performance in the operating sugar manufacturing firms in Western Kenya. Specific objectives of the study were; to determine the relationship between monetary pay and employee performance, to examine the relationship between working conditions and employee performance, to assess the relationship between top management function and employee performance, and to establish the relationship between job security and employee performance in the operating sugar manufacturing firms in Western Kenya. The study was guided by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s Motivator Hygiene theories. The study utilized the descriptive research design with a quantitative approach as well as the correlational research design. The target population was 3818 permanent employees of the operating sugar manufacturing firms in Western Kenya. Yamane’s formula was used to obtain a sample size of 362. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample from each of the sugar firms. Primary data was collected by use of a structured questionnaire. Expert judgment was used to establish the validity of the instrument while Bartlett’s tests were used to measure the study constructs. Reliability of the instrument was established by Cronbach Alpha Coefficient at 0.7 threshold level. Inferential statistics of Pearson correlation Moment and Linear Regression which assessed the relationship and the cause and effect between the independent and the dependent variables respectively were utilized in analysis of data. Data was presented using values, tables, and narration. The study findings revealed that: there’s a correlation between extrinsic motivation and employee performance and that monetary pay, working conditions, top management, and job security each significantly contributed to employee performance  = 0.365, p = 0.000,  = 0.546, p = 0.000;  = 0.404, p = 0.000;  = 0.749, p-value = 0.000 respectively. The study concluded that monetary pay, working conditions, top management and job security have a significant positive relationship with employee performance. The study recommends: HR practitioners should adopt extrinsic motivation for improving employee performance since the findings reveal that increasing monetary pay, working conditions, top management and job security improves performance of employees.; scholars should use the study and its findings as a reference tool as it contributes new knowledge to existing literature that extrinsic motivational factors motivate employees to perform ; relevant government agencies should use the findings as a basis to formulate policy guidelines on extrinsic motivational factors especially in the sugar sector since the study findings reveal that there is a relationship between the two variables. The practical implication of the findings is that extrinsic motivational factors can be used as a business strategy for improving employee performance in organizations. The researcher recommends; further studies to investigate the relationship between extrinsic motivation factors not covered in this study and employee performance and a comparative study on the two variables between government and privately owned sugar firms.