Hire Employees in Türkiye

Your own entity is normally a limited şirket, and incorporation is faster than most of the region. It commits you to Turkish corporate tax, monthly SGK declarations and e-Bildirge filing.

An Employer of Record inverts the sequence: the Turkish entity signs the contract, registers the employee with the SGK the day before they start, withholds cumulative income tax and provisions kıdem tazminatı, while you direct the day-to-day work.

Turkish labour law applies to work performed in Türkiye. The Labour Law No. 4857 is protective, and the job security provisions give employees in larger workplaces a reinstatement remedy that has no equivalent in many comparable markets.

Türkiye's headline SGK rate of 23.75% overstates what most employers actually pay. A five-point treasury incentive reduces the employer share for compliant employers, and manufacturing exporters can access a further discount taking the SGK premium as low as 16.75%. Eligibility depends on being current with filings and having no outstanding debt, so the incentive is effectively a compliance dividend.

The ceiling matters more than the rate for senior hires. SGK earnings are capped at TRY 297,270 a month, which with high inflation is uprated frequently, and it is the single figure most often stale in published guidance. Above the ceiling, employer cost stops rising in absolute terms and falls sharply as a percentage.

The reason to use an EOR here is severance rather than contribution complexity. Turkish severance is one month's gross salary per year of service, payable to any employee with a year or more who is dismissed without just cause, and also on resignation for military service, marriage within a year for women, or retirement. It is capped per year of service, but the cap is uprated twice yearly and the liability accrues from day one.

Reinstatement is the other exposure. Employees with six months' service in workplaces with thirty or more staff can bring a job security claim, and where it succeeds the employer either reinstates or pays four months' wages plus a further four to eight months' compensation.

Break-even rule of thumb: EOR fees begin to exceed the running cost of a small Turkish entity somewhere between 15 and 20 employees. Model both before committing, see EOR vs Entity for the full comparison, and plan any later migration so employees keep seniority.

Employer cost is 23.75% undiscounted. SGK at 21.75% plus 2% unemployment insurance, following the one-point rise under Law 7566 from 1 January 2026. The incentive that reduces it now differs sharply by sector: manufacturing keeps the full five points, giving SGK of 16.75%, but every other sector saw its discount cut from four points to two on the same date, giving 19.75%. A services employer modelling on last year’s four-point relief understates cost by three points. Both incentives require being current with filings and free of outstanding debt.

SGK earnings are capped at TRY 297,270 a month. With high inflation the ceiling is uprated frequently, and it is the single figure most often stale in published guidance, above it, employer cost stops rising in absolute terms and falls sharply as a percentage.

The accruing liability is severance. Kıdem tazminatı is one month’s gross salary per year of service, subject to a ceiling uprated each January and July, and it accrues from the first day even though entitlement crystallises at one year.

Four representative profiles, costed with the 2026 contribution rates above. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data, use them to see how the on-cost percentage behaves as pay rises, not as a salary benchmark for a specific role. For real market data on your roles, ask for a costing.

Because the main charges are capped, the on-cost percentage falls sharply above the ceiling. Model a senior hire explicitly rather than scaling the junior figure, the error runs in your favour but it distorts the comparison against uncapped markets.

Four representative profiles costed on 2026 statutory rates. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data.

Payroll runs monthly in lira. SGK premiums are declared through e-Bildirge and paid by the end of the following month, and income tax is withheld and remitted on the same cycle.

Turkish income tax accumulates across the year rather than applying a flat monthly rate. The employee moves into higher bands as cumulative earnings rise, so net pay falls in later months on an unchanged gross. Candidates who have not encountered this reliably query it, and it is worth explaining at offer stage rather than in October.

A stamp tax also applies to payroll at a small percentage, and the minimum wage exemption shelters a portion of every employee’s income from both income tax and stamp tax regardless of what they earn.

Thresholds and ceilings are uprated periodically, so a figure correct in January may not hold later in the year. Where a row below is flagged, published sources disagreed and the conflict is recorded rather than resolved.

Thresholds move on a local cycle that does not always fall in January, so a figure correct at the start of the year may not hold through it. Where a row below carries a flag, published sources disagreed and the conflict is recorded rather than resolved, there are 3 such rows on this page.

The sections that follow set out contracts and probation, working time, leave, termination and immigration in that order. Where an entitlement comes from a collective agreement rather than statute it is marked as such, because that distinction determines whether it is negotiable.

A written contract is required for terms of one year or more, and written particulars for shorter arrangements. Turkish is the working language for filings.

Probation is two months, extendable to four only by collective agreement. During it either party may terminate without notice or severance. That is short by regional standards and makes the two-month point a genuine decision date rather than an administrative one.

Fixed-term contracts require an objective justification, work of a definite duration, a specific project or a particular condition. Successive fixed-term contracts without a fresh justification are treated as indefinite from the start, which restores the job security protections the form was intended to avoid.

Forty-five hours a week, normally spread over six days or five with agreement. Overtime is capped at 270 hours a year and paid at 150% of the hourly rate, or compensated with 1.5 hours of free time per hour worked at the employee's election.

Overtime is where payroll disputes usually start. Record hours from day one even where the role is salaried and the expectation is that overtime will not arise, reconstructing records after a complaint is far harder than keeping them.

Overtime is where payroll disputes usually begin, and the burden of proving hours worked generally sits with the employer. Record hours from the first day even for salaried roles where overtime is not expected, reconstructing a record after a complaint is considerably harder than keeping one.

Public holidays sit on top of the annual leave entitlement. Where a holiday falls at a weekend, practice varies, some markets move it, some grant a substitute day and some do neither, so check the position before assuming a day in lieu.

The 17 dates below are the statutory position. Employers in many markets grant more by policy or collective agreement, and sector agreements sometimes add local or patronal days that do not appear in a national list.

Türkiye observes 17 paid public holidays in 2026. Dates that fall at a weekend and any substitution rules are set out below; entitlement is separate from annual leave.

Maternity: 16 weeks, 8 before and 8 after the birth, Two thirds of earnings, paid by SGK, not the employer. Paternity: 5 days. Paid by the employer. Unpaid parental leave: Up to 6 months after maternity leave ends. Unpaid; job protected. Sick leave: From day 3 of a certified absence. SGK pays a temporary incapacity benefit; the employer commonly covers the first two days by policy.

Marriage leave: 3 days. Paid by the employer.

The question that matters for budgeting is who funds each entitlement. Where the state or a social insurance fund pays, the employer carries administration but not cost; where the employer pays, it is a direct charge that headcount models routinely omit. Both patterns appear above.

Turkish exits carry two distinct payments, and they are cumulative rather than alternative. Severance (kıdem tazminatı) is 30 days' gross salary per year of service, subject to a ceiling uprated each January and July, payable after a year of service on dismissal without just cause. Notice pay (ihbar tazminatı) runs from two to eight weeks by length of service, or notice worked.

Just cause is narrow, broadly dishonesty, prolonged absence, or conduct making continuation unreasonable, and the employer must act within six working days of learning the facts. Miss that window and the right to dismiss for cause is lost.

Employees with six months' service in workplaces of thirty or more may challenge the dismissal under the job security provisions. The employer must give a valid reason in writing and hold a defence hearing where the reason relates to conduct or performance. Where the court finds the dismissal invalid the employer chooses between reinstatement and paying four months' wages plus four to eight months' compensation.

Severance is triggered by more than dismissal: resignation for military service, a woman resigning within a year of marriage, retirement, and death all crystallise it.

A foreign national needs a work permit from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, which also functions as a residence permit. Applications are made by the employer, from inside Türkiye where the candidate holds valid residence or through a Turkish consulate otherwise.

Salary thresholds are expressed as a multiple of the minimum wage and vary by role, senior and specialist positions attract higher multiples. Because the Turkish minimum wage rises frequently and substantially, a package that satisfied the threshold at hire can fall below it at renewal.

A five-to-one ratio of Turkish employees to foreign workers applies to most workplaces, with exemptions for certain roles and structures. Allow one to two months.

Severance is triggered by more than dismissal, which is where budgets go wrong. Kıdem tazminatı falls due on resignation for military service, on a woman resigning within a year of marriage, on retirement and on death, not only on employer termination.

The job security provisions are the second exposure. Employees with six months’ service in workplaces of thirty or more may challenge a dismissal, and where the court finds it invalid the employer chooses between reinstatement and paying four months’ wages plus four to eight months’ compensation.

Practical controls: register with the SGK the day before the employee starts, act within six working days when relying on just cause, hold a documented defence hearing for conduct dismissals, and re-test work permit salary thresholds at each minimum wage revision.

Work backwards from the start date. For a Turkish national through an EOR, one to two weeks is realistic. A foreign national needs a work permit from the Ministry of Labour, which adds one to two months and carries salary thresholds set as a multiple of the minimum wage by role category.

Confirm before making an offer: whether the salary maintains the work permit threshold, since it is tested against the current minimum wage and Turkish minimum wage rises are frequent and large; whether the workplace will reach thirty employees, which switches on job security protection; and what severance will look like at three and five years.

SGK registration is due the day before the employee starts. The e-Bildirge declaration and premium payment are then monthly. Explain the cumulative income tax bracket at offer stage. Turkish income tax accumulates across the year so net pay falls in later months on the same gross, which employees who have not seen it before reliably query.