Comprehensive Guide to Hiring Employees in Turkey

Turkey or Türkiye has had an impressive growth rate and performance amid the structural reforms it saw over the last decade.

According to reports from FDI Markets, the country ranks 9th among the popular FDI destinations. It boasts 160 FDI-related projects to name all over Europe in 2020. Türkiye stands 2nd on the list of popular FDI destinations, right after Poland. The country came with a 16% share in 2020, a hike since 2019. Until 2020, Turkiye has attracted USD 225 billion FDI since the beginning of 2003. The growth rate in Türkiye stands above 7%  in 2021, as per data from a Bloomberg survey.

The country is young with a high level of education. As per World Bank data 2019, the literacy rate of Turkey is 97%. Therefore, it comes across as the right place for hiring when you look to grow a company internationally and even for recruitment and selection in Turkey. The top industries in Turkey are:

• Agriculture
• Tourism
• Manufacturing
• Textiles

Things to Know Before Hiring in Turkey

Before hiring employees and initiating recruitment and selection in Turkey, you must bear a few things in mind:

• Global companies deciding on recruitment and selection in Turkey  must comply with the labor act rules and the Turkish employment rules.
• Turkish laws comply with the International Labor Organization or ILO to uphold requisites for a decent workplace and payments.
• Under Turkish Law, Article 10 of the constitution sets a positive baseline for prohibiting discrimination. Article 5 of Turkey’s Labor Law No. 4857, named “principle of equal treatment”, and Article 3 of Turkish Human Rights and Equality Institution Law No. 6701 (THREIL), called “principle of equality and prohibition of discrimination”, state the same.
• Article 122 of Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237 explicitly states that no employer must discriminate during recruitment and selection in Turkey. Failing this can lead to  criminal sanctions being imposed.

Employment contract

An employment contract is any contract in which an employee agrees to work per the employer’s supervision. The employer also undertakes to pay wages.

The employment contract should be drafted in Turkish. It must include all essential details like compensation, deductions, employer’s official address, etc.

Form of Contract

An employment contract lasts for at least a year or for a lesser period of time for on-call jobs.

It is always executed in written form. All written agreements stand exempted from payment of any stamp duty or charges and dues.

Suppose an employer and employee have no contract between them in written form. In that case, the employer stands obliged to provide the employee with a document stating details of:

• Contract duration
• General as well as specific work conditions
• Weekly and daily working periods
• Wages
• Payment timeline
• Termination rules

A contract, when made for a non-specific time, is open-ended. It is a fixed-term contract if the same is set up for a specific period.

Employment Types

A contract may stipulate employment as either:

•  Full-time work
•  Part-time work
• Trial period work

Probation

• The probation period should be mentioned in the employment contract.
• An employee’s probation period is two to four months based on a collective agreement.

Termination

Under indefinite contracts, termination also brings in the relevance of notice periods. This is vital when you conduct the hiring process in Turkey. The notice period depends on the length of an employee’s service:

• Employment of 6 months: 2 weeks notice
• 6–18 months: 4 weeks notice
• 18–36 months: 6 weeks’ notice
• Employment of over 36 months: 8 weeks’ notice

For fixed-term contracts, there is no notice period. Employers need valid reasons for the termination of employees having job security protection.

Job security protection applies to:

• employees who work for the employer for 6 months at least
• employees having an indefinite-term employment contract
• employees working for an employer with 30 employees globally

The reasons for termination are related to:

• Employee performance
• Employee conduct
• Business-related operational requirements

Valid reasons for termination as per the labor code are:

• Employee health
• Employee conduct
• Employee being in custody

Employment laws

When planning on the hiring process in Turkey or the recruitment process in Turkey, you must first grasp the employment laws.

All Turkish labor laws comply with the International Labor Organization conventions. Employers must provide the minimum legal wage, annual vacation days, maximum working years and social security contribution.

The Turkish labor law stands applicable to employees as well as employers within the jurisdiction of the Turkish Ministry of Labor. It also covers all foreign employers and all foreign employees having valid work permits. This applies to all foreign employers with or without locally registered legal entities.

Additionally, the Law of Unions and Collective Bargaining Agreements also enlist specific rules that apply to trade unions and collective bargaining arrangements in the country. The Work Health and Safety Law is also part of Turkish employment law. This lists all employer compliance rules to ensure that workplaces maintain health and safety standards.

The International Workforce Law and other secondary pieces of national legislation supplement the labor code.

Working hours and breaks

When hiring staff in Turkey,  keep track of relevant working hours and breaks.

• Working hours in Turkey stand capped at 45 hours every week.
• Daily working hours may not exceed 11 hours, excluding overtime.
• You can balance work hours as per prior employee consent in terms of overtime exceeding 45 hours weekly while not accounting for overtime.

Payroll

• Typically, an employer calculates payroll tax as per the formula below:

1. 1. Gross Salary-Social Security Premium Employee Share (this includes Unemployment Insurance)-Income Tax-Stamp Tax=Net Salary

• The labor law mentions statutory deductions such as social security premium, income taxes, and stamp duty that are a part of standard payroll.
• Employers in the country must withhold taxes related to wage payments, payments made to non-residents, professional fees, dividends, and rent based on tax codes.
• Employers need to retain all payroll data for ten years.
• As per employment rules in the country, employee payslips must mention base salary, all overtime payments, withheld taxes, and bonuses.
• Employers here might provide online payslips if the employee grants written approval.

Minimum wage

• Employers must set salaries per the minimum wage policy.
• As of July 1, 2022, the minimum wage is TL 5,500 (around $330).

Overtime compensation

• Overtime working hours stand capped at 270 hours for a year.
• The overtime hours are compensated. Compensation can be in the form of increased salary or time in-lieu.
• Overtime is paid at 150% of usual wages.

 Maternity & paternity leaves

• Paid maternity leave for 16 weeks is mandated per Turkish laws. It is divided into 8 weeks of leave pre and post-birth. There are multiple variations within these total 16 weeks of maternity leave:

1. 1. Employees can add two weeks to the eight weeks of leave before pregnancy in multiple births.
   2. For a premature birth, the remaining maternity leave before birth is added to the post-natal maternity leave in Turkey.
   3. A pregnant employee can work up to 3 weeks before birth and is entitled to 13 weeks of post-birth maternity leave.

• Maternity leave in Turkey needs a doctor’s certificate.
• Employers in Turkey can provide 6 months of unpaid leave after birth at an employee’s request.
• Father can avail up to 5 days of paid leave after the child’s birth.
• Shared paternity leaves are applicable in the event of the mom’s death during the delivery of a child.

Annual leave

• Employees who have worked for one year stand entitled to annual leaves.
• Employees are granted a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 26 days’ annual paid leave, as per their seniority level.
• National holidays, weekly holidays, or even public holidays coinciding with annual leaves are not included in underpaid annual leave.

Other leaves

• Nursing leaves apply to moms to the limit of one and half hours per day at flexible intervals till the baby is one-year-old.
• Employees who adopt are entitled to 3 days of paid leave. One of the two parents can take two months’ paid parental leave to adopt a child less than three years old.
• Marriage leaves of up to three days are allowed.
• Bereavement leave of up to three days is allowed.
• As per Article 27 of Turkish labor law, employees can use at least two hours of rest during working hours to seek new employment during the notice period.

Holidays for employees

Official public holidays in Turkey are listed month-wise:

• January 1: New Year’s Day
• April 23: National Sovereignty & Children’s Day
• May 1: Labor and Solidarity Day
• May 19: Atatürk Commemoration, Youth & Sports Day
• July 15: Democracy & National Unity Day
• August 30: Victory Day
• October 28-29: Republic Day
• Ramadan and Eid Holidays (varies)

Social security

Taxation

Income tax rates are progressive in Turkey, with the slabs for the last tax year mentioned below:

The Cost of Hiring an Employee in Turkey

The recruitment fees in Turkey vary depending upon the company and its policies. Below is the list of costs required during the recruitment process in Turkey or hiring process in Turkey.

Resource costs

• The prices for advertisements and posts on job sites and social media. You might need to hire a dedicated resource to manage the same.
• Magazines and newspapers are reliable options for posting job openings but attract payments too.

Recruitment companies

• You may outsource the hiring process in Turkey at a cost to have more time to engage in the main operational areas.

Legal aid

• Shell out costs for legal assistance to best understand all compliances for hiring in Turkey and use the correct language in hiring posts/contracts.

Briefings

• This is another cost to account for when you work along the recruitment process in Turkey and the finalizing of the hiring process in Turkey.

Training costs

• Once the employees are hired, employers also have to bear the training cost. This becomes crucial when hiring foreign workers in Turkey.

Annual salary

• Employers are obliged to pay the annual salary costs of employees before considering bonuses, deductions and others.

What Does a Firm Need to Hire Employees in Turkey?

Employers in Turkey can employ both permanent and part-time employees. To hire new employees in Turkey, a company needs to set up its presence and then meet all taxation and legal obligations as employers. Employers must fulfill the following requirements to set up a business in Turkey:

1. Minimum age of 18 years
2. Work permit for foreigners
3. Required licenses from concerned authorities.

The next step is advertising for job positions in the market. Alternatively, a Turkish employer can also hire staff via an agency.

Various options for Hiring Employees in Turkey

Once you gauge the processes for recruitment in Turkey or hiring in Turkey, you need to pick one of the below categories to complete the same:

1. Tie-up with any global EOR service: You may simply partner with an employer of record (EOR) such as Multiplier. The latter handles all logistics such as compliance, benefit, compensation, payrolls, and workforce management without you needing to set up an entity directly.
2. Direct hires: If you already have a subsidiary or branch in Turkey, you can directly hire with your HR department at the helm.

The Steps to Hiring in Turkey

Steps in the recruitment process in Turkey or the hiring process in Turkey are as follows:

Step 1- Advertisements

• Initiate a hiring process in Turkey by advertising job openings.
• List the minimum requirements for posting and advertising the job across various channels.
• You can post jobs at TurkeyTalent, Yenibiris, Kariyer, Indeed and others.

Step 2-Scanning all applications

• Go over all applications to shortlist the ones that match your requirements for the role.

Step 3-Telephonic interview

• A simple telephonic interaction helps employers understand if a candidate is suitable for further discussion.

Step 4- Schedule interviews

• The hiring manager and a panel interact with the candidates who get shortlisted. This helps employers understand all information on potential hires’ backgrounds, interests, experiences, and competencies.
• If necessary, employers can organize a second round of interviews.

Step 5-Assessment

• Employers use a psychometric assessment to understand a candidate’s behavioral aspects.

Step 6-Reference checks

Employers can ask the references a candidate mentions and questions related to the performance and skills of the latter.

As far as background checks for potential employees are concerned, the following restrictions apply:

• Criminal record: You will only be able to obtain criminal records when an employee gives a notarized power of attorney and then accesses such records by themselves.
• Medical history: Ask for employee consent for accessing a health report to fulfill all occupational health and safety requirements.
• Drug screening: Employees need to provide consent for the same.
• Credit checks: Employers can conduct a credit check with employee consent.
• Immigration status: Employers must verify all prospective employees’ documents in this context. However, the employer must ensure the employee is authorized to work.
• Social media: The employee needs to consent to social media scrutiny.

Step 8-Final offer

This is the last step of the hiring process in Turkey that seals the recruitment process in Turkey. The HR department drafts an offer letter for the right candidate. The employee accepts this offer letter before the employment contract formally begins.

Let Multiplier be Your EOR Platform in Turkey

Recruiting employees and onboarding them is time-consuming and effort-intensive. You begin with advertising openings and finally hire someone post-compliance with all norms in Turkey.

Pick a global PEO-EOR firm such as Multiplier instead. Experts here will make the recruitment process in Turkey quick and hassle-free. We offer Saas-based Employer of Record solutions for talent hiring. Moreover, you don’t need to establish a branch or subsidiary in the country at all. Multiplier helps you tackle new markets and work on automated payroll management, too, for completing the hiring process in Turkey or the recruitment process in Turkey.