Turkey represents a highly attractive hiring market, bridging Europe and Asia, with a young, technically skilled, and multilingual workforce available at costs significantly lower than those in Western Europe. However, the country maintains a protective regulatory environment with extensive administrative requirements, where errors in contracts, severance, or social security registration can result in substantial liabilities.
An Employer of Record (EOR) in Turkey mitigates these challenges by serving as the legal employer for Turkish staff. The EOR manages contracts, payroll, taxes, and social security, enabling companies to hire employees in Turkey within weeks without establishing a local entity. While the client organization directs daily work, the EOR assumes responsibility for compliance.
This guide provides a comprehensive reference on Turkish employment law requirements, employment costs for 2026, and expected setup timelines. For a general overview of the EOR model, refer to the main [Employer of Record Turkey guide]; this document focuses specifically on costs, compliance, and timelines.
Why Global Companies Hire in Turkey
Several factors contribute to Turkey’s prominence on expansion shortlists. The country offers a large, young workforce, a strategic geographic position connecting Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and a diverse economy encompassing manufacturing, services, and technology.
For technology-focused companies, Turkish technical talent is a primary attraction. Universities in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir consistently produce engineers, developers, and data specialists, many of whom are fluent in English and experienced in international collaboration. There is significant expertise across software, artificial intelligence, and industrial engineering.
Additionally, Turkey offers a notable salary advantage. Skilled professionals in Turkey generally command lower compensation than their counterparts in Western Europe or North America, while providing comparable technical quality. For organizations establishing distributed teams or nearshoring within a European time zone, this combination of cost efficiency and capability is highly advantageous, prompting many to utilize an EOR for rapid market entry.
Turkish Employment Law Essentials
Employment in Turkey is governed primarily by Turkish Labor Law No. 4857 (İş Kanunu), backed by social security legislation (Law No. 5510). The framework leans clearly toward employee protection, and the rules on contracts, termination, severance, and working time are detailed and enforced.
For foreign employers, the practical implication is that statutory defaults favor employees, terminations are seldom ‘at will,’ and statutory entitlements represent non-negotiable minimums. Ensuring compliance from the outset is significantly more cost-effective than addressing errors retrospectively.
Employment Contracts and Probation
The standard employment arrangement in Turkey is the indefinite-term contract. Fixed-term contracts are permissible only when justified by an objective reason, such as a defined project or temporary need; repeated use of fixed-term contracts without justification may result in their reclassification as indefinite. A written employment contract is mandatory for terms of one year or longer and is strongly recommended in all cases, specifying role, salary, working hours, leave, and notice provisions.
Prior to an employee’s commencement, the employer is required to submit the SGK entry declaration (işe giriş bildirgesi), typically no later than one day before the employee’s first working day. Failure to comply with this requirement is a common and penalized infraction.
The probation period in Turkey may last up to two months and can be extended to four months only through a collective bargaining agreement. During probation, either party may terminate the employment without notice; however, other statutory protections remain in effect.
Working Hours, Overtime and Annual Leave
Standard working hours in Turkey are limited to 45 hours per week, typically distributed evenly across working days. Hours exceeding this threshold are considered overtime and are compensated at 1.5 times the regular hourly rate. Overtime is capped at 270 hours per year per employee, and written employee consent is generally required.
Statutory annual leave in Turkey accrues after one full year of service, with minimums rising by tenure:
| Length of service | Minimum paid annual leave |
| 1–5 years | 14 working days |
| 5–15 years | 20 working days |
| 15+ years | 26 working days |
Employees under 18 or over 50 years of age are entitled to a minimum of 20 days of annual leave, irrespective of tenure. These statutory minimums may be exceeded by contractual terms or company policy.
Severance and Notice Pay
Termination costs are primarily concentrated in this area, warranting careful consideration.
Severance pay in Turkey — kıdem tazminatı — is owed to employees with at least one year of service whose employment ends for a qualifying reason (including employer termination without just cause, and certain employee-initiated exits). It is calculated as 30 days’ gross “all-in” salary for each full year of service, pro-rated for partial years. The all-in figure includes regular add-ons such as recurring bonuses and meal or transport allowances.
Severance is subject to a statutory ceiling that is updated every six months. For the first half of 2026 (January–June), the kıdem tazminatı ceiling is ₺64,948.77 per year of service; where an employee’s all-in monthly pay exceeds this, severance is calculated on the ceiling. Only stamp tax of 0.759% is deducted from severance — no income tax and no social security.
Notice pay in Turkey is separate from severance. Either party ending an indefinite contract must give notice (or pay in lieu), scaled to tenure under Article 17 of Law 4857:
| Length of service | Notice period |
| Less than 6 months | 2 weeks |
| 6–18 months | 4 weeks |
| 18–36 months | 6 weeks |
| More than 3 years | 8 weeks |
Since notice and severance obligations are cumulative, and dismissals in establishments with 30 or more employees may trigger job-security (reinstatement) provisions for eligible staff, terminations in Turkey are frequently managed through negotiated settlements rather than unilateral action.
Payroll, Taxes and SGK Contributions
Running Turkey payroll compliantly means getting three things right every month: social security, income tax, and stamp tax. All figures below reflect 2026 parameters.
The 2026 gross minimum wage is ₺33,030 per month (net ₺28,075.50). This matters beyond low-wage roles, because it sets the floor for social security and several exemptions.
SGK contributions are the largest employer add-on. They are split between employee and employer:
- Employee: 14% social security + 1% unemployment insurance = 15% of gross, withheld from pay.
- Employer: 20.75% social security + 2% unemployment insurance = 22.75% on top of gross. Employers who meet the conditions for the standard 5-point incentive effectively pay around 17.75%.
Contributions apply to monthly earnings between the SGK floor (₺33,030) and the SGK ceiling. Note a significant 2026 change: the ceiling was raised from 7.5x to 9x the gross minimum wage, lifting it to ₺297,270 per month — which increases contributions on higher salaries.
Income tax in Turkey is progressive, running from 15% up to 40% on a cumulative annual basis, so an employee’s effective rate can rise through the year as cumulative income crosses thresholds. For 2026 the entry bracket of 15% applies up to ₺190,000 of cumulative income, stepping up through 20%, 27%, 35%, and 40%. A continuing exemption means the portion of every salary equal to the minimum wage is effectively shielded from income tax (and stamp tax), which benefits all employees.
Stamp tax is a small but real line: 0.759% of gross salary. Salary at the minimum-wage level is exempt.
For budgeting purposes, employers should anticipate social security contributions of approximately 17.75% to 22.75% in addition to gross salary, exclusive of any EOR service fees. Income and stamp taxes are withheld from employees but must be accurately calculated and remitted each month.
EOR Costs and Setup Timeline in Turkey
The primary advantage of an EOR is the ability to hire in Turkey without establishing a local entity, thereby reducing the setup timeline from several months to a few weeks.
Turkey EOR pricing typically consists of three components: the employee’s gross salary, mandatory employer contributions (approximately 17.75% to 22.75% for social security, plus proper handling of income and stamp tax), and the EOR’s service fee. The service fee is usually a flat monthly amount per employee, which provides predictable costs and eliminates the need to establish local payroll and HR infrastructure. Fee structures may vary by provider and can depend on headcount, salary levels, and the scope of support offered.
Regarding timelines, an EOR can generally onboard an employee within one to three weeks after candidate selection and agreement on terms, with expedited processing possible for straightforward local hires. The process includes issuing a compliant contract, filing SGK registration, establishing payroll, and completing statutory onboarding, after which employment may legally commence. For foreign nationals, additional time for work permit processing should be considered.
In comparison, establishing and operationalizing a Turkish legal entity—including registration, tax and SGK setup, banking, and accounting—requires significantly more time. This process is addressed in the following section.
EOR vs Setting Up a Turkish Entity
The decision between company formation in Turkey and utilizing an EOR primarily depends on considerations of scale, intended permanence, and required speed of market entry.
An EOR is generally preferable for initial market entry, demand testing, hiring small or distributed teams, or when rapid onboarding is required. This approach eliminates the need for entity setup, reduces compliance risk, and allows for greater flexibility in scaling operations. For most early-stage market entry in Turkey, these advantages are decisive.
Establishing a local entity becomes more advantageous as operations expand and become long-term, such as when maintaining a sizable, permanent team, invoicing local clients in lira, holding local bank accounts, or building a branded local presence. When headcount reaches a level where fixed entity overhead is more cost-effective than per-employee EOR fees, entity formation is preferable. However, this approach entails significant time investment and ongoing obligations, including incorporation, tax and social security registration, corporate banking, mandatory accounting and filings, and continued administrative responsibilities.
A common, low-risk strategy is to initially hire through an EOR for rapid market entry, then transition employees to a local entity once market viability is established and operational scale justifies the change. This approach ensures continuous presence during the entity formation process.
Hiring in Turkey with Gini Talent
For organizations seeking rapid and compliant market entry, the selection of a Turkey EOR provider is critical. In Turkey, the provider’s local standing directly influences the client’s compliance exposure.
Gini Talent, an Istanbul-based recruitment and Employer of Record specialist, integrates talent acquisition with compliant employment solutions. Engaging Gini Talent in Turkey centralizes the entire employment process with a single partner:
- Compliant local contracts drafted to Law No. 4857, in Turkish where required, with correct notice, probation, working-time, and leave terms.
- Full statutory setup — SGK registration and payroll enrollment — so employees start legally and on time.
- End-to-end payroll covering social security, income tax, and stamp tax, calculated at current-year rates and remitted correctly each month.
- Turkey EOR and PEO services to suit your stage — full legal employment where you have no entity, or HR and payroll support where you do — plus recruitment to source the talent in the first place.
- A scalable approach is provided, including support for transitioning teams into a client’s own Turkish entity through Gini’s company setup services when appropriate.
This results in expedited, compliant hiring within one of the world’s most strategic talent markets, without the need to establish a local entity or assume direct Turkish labor law risk.
