Methods, and a hand wash monitoring system for motivating and monitoring hygiene compliance are disclosed. The hand wash monitoring system communicatively connects to Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) readers positioned at a sanitizer unit and a water dispensing unit. The RFID readers detect the presence of a user wearing a RFID badge near the sanitizer unit and the water dispensing unit. Further, the RFID readers detect the usage of the sanitizer unit and the water dispensing unit by the user and communicate the information to the hand wash monitoring system. The hand wash monitoring system includes a display. The hand wash monitoring system displays the status of user's compliance of hand washing and/or hand sanitization on the display to improve hygiene compliance with established protocols.