Top 5 Reasons companies choose an Employer of Record (EOR) in Turkey
- Gegidze • გეგიძე | Marketing
- Aug 19
- 7 min read
Table of contents:
Introduction
You can hire in Istanbul in days.
You can also waste half a year wrestling with entity paperwork that reads like it was written by a sleep-deprived lawyer who’s allergic to punctuation.
Turkey’s a magnet right now, booming economy, ridiculous talent depth, perfect time zone for global teams. Everyone wants in.
But here’s the plot twist: the faster the market moves, the faster you can get left behind if you’re stuck waiting for permits, bank accounts, and a local address just to legally pay someone.
An Employer of Record (EOR) in Turkey skips all that.
You get people on the ground, on your payroll, and in compliance without ever having to figure out what a “vergi levhası” is or why it needs three different stamps.
If you want to win in Turkey without turning your expansion plan into a bureaucratic endurance sport, keep reading.
1. Skilled talent pool with competitive costs
Need engineers? They’ve been building everything from cars to complex machinery for decades.
Need software developers? You’ll find Python, Java, and mobile app experts who can code circles around your backlog.
Need multilingual support? English is strong, but you’ll also get Arabic, German, Russian, and French, all in the same time zone as half your customer base.
All at salaries that can run 40–70% lower than in Western Europe or the US. You’re not sacrificing quality. You’re gaining scale.
Role | United States | Europe | Turkey |
Software Developer | $110,000 | $75,000 | $46,000 |
QA Engineer | $90,000 | $70,000 | $28,800 |
Data Scientist | $72,000 | $54,000 | $30,000 |
Graphic Designer | $50,000 | $42,000 | $18,000 |
Digital Marketer | $66,000 | $52,000 | $24,000 |
Content Writer | $55,000 | $45,000 | $16,200 |
Social Media Manager | $60,000 | $55,000 | $20,400 |
Project Manager | $84,000 | $66,000 | $27,600 |
HR Specialist | $70,000 | $62,000 | $19,800 |
Customer Support Specialist | $40,000 | $33,000 | $12,600 |
The education pipeline is no accident
Turkey didn’t just wake up one day with a skilled workforce.
Over 8 million students are enrolled in higher education. Engineering programs crank out tens of thousands of graduates a year. And thanks to partnerships with European and US universities, a lot of these professionals already know how to navigate international projects (and international clients).
What about the cost?
Here’s where it gets interesting.
A software engineer in Turkey might cost €20–35k/year. In Western Europe? You’re looking at €60–90k/year.
Same story for multilingual customer support, about €10–18k/year in Turkey, versus €30–45k/year in the EU.
You’re paying less, but you’re not getting “budget talent”, you’re getting the same skill level, just in a more cost-efficient market.
Why EOR makes this ridiculously simple
If you go the “set up your own entity” route, you’ll be waiting months before you can even hire.
With Team Up as your Employer of Record provider in Turkey, you can:
Hire vetted local talent in days.
Let us handle payroll, taxes, and compliance.
Keep all the control over their work without touching the legal red tape.
Basically, you get a fully compliant team in Turkey before your competitors have even finished their first meeting with a corporate lawyer.
2. Strong and diverse economy
Steady GDP growth you can bank on
Turkey’s economy is expected to grow steadily at 3–4% per year through 2025–2026 — a pace that balances opportunity with stability.
World Bank: 3.1% in 2025 → 3.6% in 2026
IMF: 3.0% in 2025 → 3.3% in 2026
EBRD: 2.8% in 2025 → 3.5% in 2026
Fitch Ratings: 2.9% in 2025 → 3.5% in 2026
BBVA Research: 3.5% in 2025 → 4.0% in 2026
These forecasts, from multiple respected institutions, show consistency across the board. For employers, it means Turkey offers a predictable environment for long-term workforce planning.
Beyond manufacturing: a modern economic mix
Turkey’s growth isn’t just coming from factories. The government has pushed hard to diversify the economy:
Technology & ICT: Expanding rapidly through tech parks, R&D grants, and startup incubators.
Fintech: Nearly 700 active fintech firms modernizing payments and banking.
Finance: Digital transformation and updated regulations are boosting access to capital.
Services: Tourism, healthcare, logistics, and digital services are scaling fast.
This diversity means employers can hire across multiple industries — not just in one sector that might be vulnerable to downturns.
Why it matters for hiring decisions
Resilience: Multiple growth engines keep job markets active even during global slowdowns.
Talent variety: From software engineers to financial analysts, the talent pool is broad.
Regional influence: Turkey’s diversified economy makes it a strategic hub for Middle East, Europe, and Central Asia operations.
EOR vs setting up your own entity in Turkey
There a two paths: EOR vs setting up your own entity in Turkey
Let’s break it down: If you want to hire in Turkey, you have two main options:
Set up a local legal entity — This means registering a company, opening a Turkish bank account, appointing local directors, registering for taxes, and maintaining ongoing compliance. It can take 3–6 months, cost thousands in legal/admin fees, and require continuous local oversight.
Hire through an Employer of Record (EOR) — The EOR already has a legal entity in Turkey and becomes the legal employer for your hires. You keep full control over day-to-day work, while the EOR handles:
Employment contracts
Payroll and tax filings
Benefits and compliance
Terminations and severance when needed
Bottom line: Setting up an entity is worth it if you’re committing to a large-scale, permanent presence. But if you want speed, flexibility, and compliance from day one, an EOR is the low-risk path.
3. Business-friendly policies and FDI incentives
Turkey isn’t just open for business — it’s rolling out the red carpet and handing you a welcome drink.
Over the past decade, the government has been on a reform streak:
Public sector management is leaner and more transparent.
Company registration — especially for IT and export-focused firms — is now faster and less bureaucratic.
FDI rules are designed to make foreign investors feel more like partners than outsiders.
Where the incentives get really interesting
If you’re in tech, R&D, or export-oriented work, Turkey has entire zones designed to make your accountant smile:
Technology Development Zones (TDZs): Tax exemptions on profits, VAT breaks, and zero income tax on R&D staff salaries.
Free Zones: Duty-free imports, corporate tax reductions, and simplified customs processes.
R&D and Design Centers: Cash grants, social security premium support, and other perks that make innovation cheaper.
These aren’t token benefits — for some companies, they shave double-digit percentages off annual operating costs.
Why EOR is your shortcut to tapping them
Here’s the thing: most of these incentives are tied to having a compliant presence in Turkey. If you set up your own entity, you can access them, but you’ll spend months and a decent chunk of budget just getting through the door.
With Team Up’s Employer of Record service, you can:
Hire local talent inside these zones.
Stay fully compliant without forming a legal entity.
Start benefiting from location-based incentives from day one.
In other words, you get the full compliance checklist for EOR in Turkey without the paperwork headache.
4. Strategic location and regional gateway
If geography had a “best real estate” list, Turkey would be somewhere near the top.
Sitting at the literal crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, it’s the kind of location that makes regional expansion feel less like a risky leap and more like a smart step.
Built for moving people and products
Turkey isn’t just well-placed, it’s well-connected:
Istanbul Airport is one of the busiest in the world, linking you to over 120 countries in a single hop.
Marmaray rail tunnel and upgraded freight lines move goods seamlessly between continents.
Major ports on both the Aegean and Black Sea keep trade flowing in and out without bottlenecks.
Whether you’re shipping products, sending your team to client sites, or juggling multi-country operations, Turkey’s infrastructure has you covered.
Why this matters for hiring
A strategic location isn’t just about trade routes, it’s about talent access. Operating from Turkey gives you proximity to diverse labor markets in Europe, the Caucasus, and MENA, making it easier to scale quickly.
EOR: Your “test and scale” button
If you’re eyeing multiple markets but not ready to set up entities in each one, an Employer of Record in Turkey lets you:
Hire locally to service Turkish clients.
Support neighboring markets from a single base.
Test regional expansion without sinking months into legal setup.
5. Compliance without headaches
Remote hiring in Turkey isn’t complicated because the rules are unclear, it’s complicated because there are a lot of them. Miss one, and you’re not looking at a slap on the wrist. You’re looking at fines, back payments, and in some cases, a hiring freeze.
What’s on your legal to-do list in Turkey?
Probationary periods are capped at two months (extendable to four in collective agreements).
Severance pay kicks in after a year of service, based on length of employment and capped monthly wage.
Mandatory benefits include health insurance, paid leave, and public holidays.
Payroll taxes and employer contributions must be calculated and filed on time — including social security and unemployment insurance.
Get any of that wrong, and the Turkish Labor Inspectorate won’t care that you “just didn’t know.”
The hidden trap: misclassification
Hiring someone as a “contractor” when they’re actually functioning as an employee? That’s misclassification, and in Turkey, the penalties can wipe out months of profit.
Why EOR makes this easy
An Employer of Record becomes your legal employer in Turkey, which means:
Every payroll run is accurate and compliant.
Benefits are handled according to law (and market best practice).
Your risk of misclassification drops to zero.
You get the team you want, fully compliant from day one without needing an in-house legal team or a crash course in Turkish labor law.
Conclusion
Turkey ticks all the right boxes:
A strong, diverse economy.
A skilled talent pool at competitive rates.
Generous incentives for the right industries.
A location that connects three continents.
And labor compliance that’s only a headache if you try to handle it alone.
An Employer of Record cuts straight through the setup delays, paperwork traps, and compliance risks.
With Team Up, you can hire in Turkey without opening a local entity, without drowning in admin, and without losing months to bureaucracy.
Your first employee could be onboarded in days and fully compliant from day one.
