Motivating the employees is of key importance for providing their effi ciency and quality of work. This applies especially to employment in times of economic downturn, when the growth can be recognized of demotivational factors that have a negative infl uence on the motivation of employees. The aim of this research was to establish the current situation of motivation of the employees of Slovenian and Croatian wood-industry companies. It was established that the company managements pay most attention to assuring employees’ security and their mutual relations, which is without doubt of great importance in the period of increased insecurity of business and growing tension among people. Interest was also focused on differences between Slovenian and Croatian companies. It was established that there are some differences in classifi cation of different motivational factors according to their importance, but they are mostly not statistically significant.