While the literature on the determinants of worker performance is vast, little is studied about the relationship between human needs and performance. This paper models the functional relationship between needs and performance using the new concept of the “needs-performance profile,” and estimated the profile using a survey data set. Empirical results based on quantile regressions suggest that the needs for achievement, belonging and power are more important than others in the prediction of performance; and that the needs-performance profile per se does not seem different across high- and low- performance groups, so the performance differences between the two groups arises mostly from the differences in the intensity of needs. We also found some evidence that the profile tends to be slightly lower for female workers or senior workers, perhaps due to discrimination or the difficulty of implementing an output-oriented HRM system. Regarding the first finding that the high performers show a stronger need for achievement than average performers, many studies show similar evidence that the individuals who have a strong need for achievement exhibit more positive and challenging attitudes for goal-orientation and tend to achieve a higher level of performance than otherwise comparable individuals. Our study goes beyond that. First, both the high performers group and the average performers group share a similar needs-performance profile. The need for achievement is more important than other needs. Second, the high performers group has a stronger need for achievement than the average performers group. In particular, this pattern is observed in Korean companies where the job-centered professionalism has not been built thoroughly enough due to the seniority-based HRM system. The second finding suggests that the high performers group in terms of organizational commitment has a stronger need for belonging than the average performers group. Korean companies have carried out human resource practices based on seniority and nepotism for a long while. In this context, they demanded a strong organizational loyalty from their employees. In a culture with an emphasis on seniority, it is not surprising that the need for belonging turns out a major determinant of performance in all groups, compared with other needs. Our third finding is that the results for achievement and power are similar regardless of our two performance measures. Regarding the need for power, we obtain the result that the stronger is the need for power, the lower becomes the performance. In Korea, the hierarchal mind-set in organization has been prevalent before the economic crisis of 1997. After that, the values of performance-centered system started to become the basis of corporate culture. To become more competitive in a rapidly-changing environment, creative and innovative mind sets are required and such attitudes are only possible in a horizontal culture. Perhaps for this reason, the high performers group exhibits a low level of the need for power. Gender-based discrimination is present in many important areas of HRM, ranging from recruiting, compensation, to performance management. How this type of discrimination affects the needs-performance profile is an empirical question. Our result lends some support to this common belief: discrimination lowers the needs-performance profile. Meanwhile, Korea has been deeply rooted in seniority, so seniority can be considered as another key factor of performance. Perhaps due to the rapidly changing HRM, seniority does not seem to make significant differences in the needs-performance profile between the high and average performers.