Learn how hybrid and flexible working models are regulated in Turkey, including remote work, part-time work, on-call work, working-time flexibility, employer duties, employee rights, and key compliance risks under Turkish labor law.
Hybrid and Flexible Working Models in Turkey
Hybrid and flexible working models are now a permanent part of employment planning in Turkey, especially for employers that want to attract talent, reduce office costs, or redesign working-time patterns. But Turkish law does not treat flexibility as a law-free space. These models operate within a framework shaped mainly by Labor Law No. 4857, the Remote Work Regulation, the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331, and—when disputes arise—the Labor Courts Law No. 7036. In other words, flexibility is allowed, but it must still be structured lawfully.
A key point at the outset is that Turkish legislation does not appear to create a separate statutory category called “hybrid work.” Instead, hybrid models are usually built inside the legal framework for remote work, because the Remote Work Regulation defines remote work to include employees who perform all or part of their work remotely, and Labor Law No. 4857 defines remote work as a written employment relationship in which the employee performs work at home or outside the workplace through technological communication tools within the employer’s organization. That is why hybrid work in Turkey is less a separate legal institution than a practical arrangement built on existing labor-law categories.
At the same time, “flexible working” in Turkey is broader than remote or hybrid work. The Labor Law expressly regulates part-time work, on-call work, remote work, and flexible distribution of weekly working time through balancing. It also creates a special part-time entitlement for one parent after statutory maternity-related leave in certain circumstances. The practical question for employers is therefore not whether flexibility is possible, but which legal model they are actually using—and whether the contract, working-time design, equipment, costs, equality rules, and occupational safety measures match that model.
This article explains Hybrid and Flexible Working Models in Turkey: Legal Risks and Compliance Issues in a practical and SEO-friendly way. It covers hybrid work, part-time work, on-call work, working-time flexibility, written contract rules, employer duties on equipment and costs, data protection, occupational safety, equal-treatment principles, substantial changes in working conditions, and the main dispute risks that appear when flexibility is introduced informally rather than lawfully.
1. The legal framework for flexibility in Turkish labor law
The central source is Labor Law No. 4857. Article 13 regulates part-time work, Article 14 regulates on-call work and remote work, Article 22 regulates substantial changes in working conditions, Article 41 regulates overtime, Article 63 regulates weekly and daily working time and balancing, and Article 5 lays down the equal-treatment principle. Alongside that, the Remote Work Regulation sets the operational rules for written remote work contracts, workplace setup, equipment, direct costs, communication, data protection, occupational safety, ineligible jobs, and the transition into and out of remote work.
This matters because employers sometimes talk about “flexible work” as if it were a single open-ended business concept. Turkish law does not do that. It regulates different flexible models through different rules. A part-time arrangement is not legally the same as a hybrid arrangement. An on-call arrangement is not legally the same as a compressed workweek established through balancing. And a change from office work to hybrid work may trigger different legal consequences from a change in weekly hours or a move to part-time work.
A second layer of the framework is occupational health and safety. Law No. 6331 imposes a general duty on employers to ensure employees’ health and safety, take preventive measures, provide information and training, monitor compliance, carry out risk assessment, and take account of the employee’s suitability for the work. The law also states that OHS costs cannot be shifted to employees. This means flexible work may change the workplace setting, but it does not eliminate the employer’s safety obligations.
2. Part-time work in Turkey
Article 13 states that a contract is part-time when the employee’s normal weekly working time is set significantly lower than that of a comparable full-time employee. The same article also states that, unless there is a justified reason, a part-time employee cannot be treated differently merely because the contract is part-time, and divisible wage-related benefits must be paid proportionately to working time. In short, part-time work is not a lesser legal status under Turkish law; it is a recognized work model subject to equal-treatment rules.
This is one of the most important compliance points in flexible working models. Employers often assume flexibility allows them to reduce rights informally. Turkish law says otherwise. If an employee is part-time, proportional treatment may apply to divisible benefits, but different treatment still requires legal justification. A company cannot lawfully use a part-time label as a shortcut to strip comparable workers of rights without a defensible basis.
Article 13 also provides that, where suitable vacancies exist, employee requests to move from part-time to full-time or from full-time to part-time should be taken into account by the employer and vacant positions should be announced in time. That does not create an absolute employee right to demand the switch in every case, but it does mean the employer should not treat such requests as invisible. Flexible staffing in Turkey is expected to operate within a transparent employment structure, not through arbitrary informal selection.
3. On-call work as a flexible model
Article 14 treats on-call work as a special form of part-time employment established by written contract, under which the employee performs work when needed. If the parties do not specify how long the employee will work in a week, month, or year, the weekly working time is deemed to be 20 hours. The employer must usually make the call at least four days in advance, and if the daily duration is not specified, the employee must be engaged for at least four consecutive hours on each call. The law also states that the worker is entitled to wages for the agreed call period whether or not the work is actually assigned.
This is a highly relevant model for businesses that want demand-based staffing, but it is also a legal risk area. Turkish law does not accept a vague arrangement in which the employee is kept “available when needed” without structure. On-call work must be documented in writing, and the statutory presumptions on weekly time, advance notice, and minimum daily assignment apply unless the contract lawfully says otherwise. Employers that use irregular flexible staffing without aligning it to Article 14 may face wage and classification disputes later.
4. Hybrid and remote work in Turkey
As noted above, Turkish law does not separately define “hybrid work,” but hybrid models are usually organized through the remote-work framework because both Labor Law No. 4857 and the Remote Work Regulation define remote work as including employees who perform all or part of their work remotely. The law therefore accommodates both fully remote and partly remote patterns within the same general legal structure.
Remote work must be based on a written contract. Both Labor Law No. 4857 and the Remote Work Regulation expressly require that remote work agreements be made in writing. The written contract must include the job definition, the way the work will be performed, the duration and place of the work, wage and wage-payment matters, employer-provided equipment and the duties relating to its protection, how the employer will communicate with the employee, and the general and special working conditions.
For hybrid employers, this is one of the biggest compliance issues. A company may think it has simply introduced a practical “three days office, two days home” arrangement. But if the employee is performing part of the work remotely on an ongoing basis, Turkish law expects the relationship to be documented with the level of specificity required for remote work. Hybrid work should not be treated as legally invisible merely because the employee still spends part of the week in the office.
5. Moving into hybrid or remote work
The Remote Work Regulation states that the employment relationship may be established directly as a remote work contract from the start, or an employee already working on-site may move into remote work if the employee and employer agree. The Regulation also allows the employee to request remote work in writing, requires the employer to assess the request according to the workplace procedure and the suitability of the job and the employee for remote work, and says the result should generally be communicated within 30 days. An employee who has moved to remote work may later request a return to workplace work, and the employer must give that request priority consideration.
This means that, in ordinary circumstances, moving an existing employee from office work into hybrid or remote work is generally a matter of agreement, not pure unilateral command. That fits with Article 22 of the Labor Law, which states that the employer may make a substantial change in working conditions only by giving written notice, and changes that are not accepted by the employee in writing within six business days do not bind the employee. If the employee rejects the proposed change, the employer may terminate only by explaining in writing that the change is based on a valid reason or that another valid reason exists, and by complying with notice rules.
There is one important exception. The Regulation states that if remote work will be applied to all or part of the workplace due to compelling reasons recognized in legislation, the employee’s request or consent is not required for the transition. So the ordinary rule is agreement, but the law preserves a limited exceptional route for workplace-wide or partial workplace remote work in compelling circumstances.
6. Working time flexibility and compressed scheduling
Flexible work in Turkey also includes working-time flexibility, not just location flexibility. Article 63 states that normal working time is generally capped at 45 hours per week and may, by agreement, be distributed differently across the working days of the week as long as daily work does not exceed 11 hours and the employee’s average weekly time does not exceed the normal weekly limit during the balancing period. The standard balancing period is two months, which collective bargaining agreements may extend to four months.
This is the legal basis for many compressed or redistributed workweek models. A company that wants longer days on some weekdays and shorter days on others may be able to use Article 63 lawfully, but only if the daily and average limits are respected. Flexibility in Turkey is therefore possible, but it is not unlimited. Employers should not confuse a balancing arrangement with a free license to create overly long or unstable schedules.
Remote and hybrid work do not displace these rules. The Remote Work Regulation states that the time interval and duration of remote work must be stated in the contract, that working hours may be changed subject to statutory limits, and that overtime in remote work may be performed only upon the employer’s written request and the employee’s acceptance in accordance with the legislation. So home-based work is still work under the Labor Law, not an unbounded availability arrangement.
7. Overtime and flexible models
Article 41 defines overtime as work exceeding 45 hours per week and states that each overtime hour must be paid with a 50% premium. It also distinguishes “work in excess of normal hours” where the contract sets weekly hours below 45; in that case, extra hours up to 45 attract a 25% premium rather than the full overtime premium. The same article also says that where balancing under Article 63 is lawfully used, hours above 45 in some weeks do not automatically count as overtime if the employee’s average weekly working time stays within the normal weekly limit over the balancing period.
This is a major risk area for hybrid and flexible employers. Informal flexibility often turns into informal overtime. An employee working partly from home may end up being treated as constantly reachable, and a compressed or redistributed schedule may be operated without any real balancing structure. Turkish law does not excuse overtime errors simply because the work model is modern or convenient. The legal questions remain the same: what was the agreed schedule, what was the actual work performed, was overtime requested lawfully, and were the statutory limits respected?
8. Equal treatment and anti-discrimination risks
Flexible models create serious equality risks if they are administered selectively or used to justify weaker treatment. Article 5 of Labor Law No. 4857 prohibits discrimination in the employment relationship on grounds such as language, race, color, sex, disability, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion, and similar reasons. It also states that, absent essential reasons, the employer may not treat a part-time worker less favorably than a full-time worker or a fixed-term worker less favorably than an indefinite-term worker merely because of that status.
The remote-work framework adds a parallel rule. Article 14 of the Labor Law states that remote workers may not, without an essential reason, be treated differently from a comparable employee merely because of the nature of the employment contract. This means a hybrid or remote model cannot lawfully become a disguised reason to reduce comparable rights without objective justification.
In practice, employers should review flexible-work arrangements for consistency in areas such as bonus schemes, promotion access, meeting schedules, workload distribution, and evaluation criteria. Turkish law does not require identical treatment in every operational detail, but it does require that differences be defensible and not rest merely on the fact that the employee works part-time, remotely, or under a flexible schedule.
9. Equipment, direct costs, and hybrid-work economics
The Remote Work Regulation states that, unless otherwise agreed in the contract, the general rule is that the employer provides the materials and work tools necessary for remote work. It also requires the employer to explain the terms of use and maintenance conditions clearly, and if the employer supplies the equipment, the employer must deliver a written list showing the value of the tools at the time of delivery, with a signed copy kept in the employee’s personnel file.
The Regulation also states that where necessary, arrangements concerning the place where remote work will be performed must be completed before work begins, and the way the resulting costs will be covered is determined jointly by the employee and employer. In addition, direct mandatory costs related to producing goods or services must be identified and addressed in the employment contract.
This is one of the most practical compliance issues in hybrid work. Turkish law does not impose a single universal formula for internet, electricity, or home-office setup costs, but it does require the parties to deal with these issues explicitly. Employers that leave cost allocation vague may later face disputes about whether remote work shifted business expenses to the employee without a clear contractual basis. Employees, for their part, should check whether the contract clearly addresses direct work-related costs instead of assuming they will be reimbursed automatically.
10. Communication, data protection, and managerial control
The Regulation states that the method and time interval of communication in remote work are determined by the employee and employer. It also states that the employer must inform the remote worker about workplace rules and applicable legislation concerning the protection and sharing of work-related data, take the necessary measures to protect those data, and define the definition and scope of protected data in the contract. The remote worker must comply with the business rules established by the employer for data protection.
These rules are highly relevant in hybrid work because the main control problem is often not attendance but information flow. A hybrid employee may access files from multiple locations, use employer equipment outside the office, and communicate through digital channels at irregular times. Turkish law therefore pushes communication structure and data governance into the contractual core of remote work rather than leaving them to loose policy language alone.
For employers, this means hybrid work should be paired with clear device rules, access rules, communication expectations, and data-handling protocols. For employees, it means that remote confidentiality and data-protection obligations are not merely technical recommendations; they are part of the legal structure of the relationship.
11. Occupational health and safety in hybrid and flexible work
Article 14 of the Labor Law and Article 12 of the Remote Work Regulation both make clear that the employer remains responsible for occupational health and safety in remote work. The employer must inform the worker about OHS measures, provide necessary training, ensure health surveillance, and take the necessary safety measures regarding the equipment it provides, taking the nature of the work into account.
Those remote-specific duties sit inside the broader structure of Law No. 6331, which states that the employer must ensure employees’ work-related health and safety, take all necessary preventive measures, organize the work appropriately, provide tools and equipment, monitor compliance, carry out risk assessments, and take account of the employee’s suitability for the work. The law also says the employer cannot pass OHS costs on to employees.
This creates a major compliance message for hybrid employers: home-based or partly remote work does not eliminate the OHS dimension. It changes how OHS is applied. Ergonomics, equipment safety, training, and risk identification remain legally relevant even when the employee is not physically located in the employer’s premises every day.
12. Jobs that cannot be performed remotely
The Remote Work Regulation places clear limits on flexibility. It states that remote work cannot be performed in jobs involving work with hazardous chemical substances, radioactive substances, the processing of those substances, work with their waste, or work processes involving the risk of exposure to biological agents. It also states that, in public procurement work and in units, projects, facilities, or services of strategic importance for national security, the responsible public authority determines which jobs may not be performed remotely.
This is important because employers sometimes assume every desk-based or technology-supported job can be hybridized if the business wants it. Turkish law accepts a wide range of remote work, but it does not make it universally available across all sectors and all operations. Before designing a hybrid model, the employer should confirm that the work itself is legally suitable for that model.
13. Family-related flexible work: parental part-time rights
Turkish labor law also includes a special family-related flexibility rule. Article 13 states that, after the end of the leaves provided under Article 74, one parent may request part-time work until the beginning of the month following the date the child reaches compulsory primary-school age. The same article states that this request must be met by the employer and does not constitute a valid reason for termination. It also requires the employee to notify the employer in writing at least one month in advance and includes special rules for return to full-time work and for adoption of a child under three years of age.
This is an important reminder that flexibility in Turkey is not only a management tool. In some situations it is also an employee-protective right created by the law itself. Employers therefore need to distinguish between optional flexibility arrangements and statutory flexibility entitlements. Employees, similarly, should know that some part-time transitions are not dependent solely on managerial discretion.
14. Disputes, termination risk, and mediation
Hybrid and flexible models often generate disputes not because flexibility is unlawful in itself, but because the underlying legal architecture is mishandled. Common dispute areas include unilateral return-to-office demands, unclear expense allocation, unpaid overtime, unequal treatment between office and remote staff, disciplinary action based on unclear availability expectations, and dismissal after the employee rejects a major working-condition change. Many of those conflicts connect back to Article 22 on substantial changes, Article 5 on equal treatment, Article 41 on overtime, and Article 14 plus the Regulation on remote-work structure.
When these disputes turn into formal labor claims, procedure matters too. Article 3 of Law No. 7036 states that in lawsuits for employee or employer receivables and compensation based on law or employment contracts, and in reinstatement cases, prior application to mediation is a condition of action. The same article also says that a lawsuit filed without prior mediation is procedurally dismissed, although claims arising from work accidents and occupational diseases are excluded from this mandatory mediation rule.
For employers, this means flexible-work disputes should be handled with documentary discipline from the start. For employees, it means that rights may be strong on the merits but still need to be pursued through the correct procedural path. In Turkey, hybrid work is not legally risky because it is modern. It becomes legally risky when it is implemented without matching documentation, communication rules, and change-management steps.
Conclusion
Hybrid and flexible working models are legally possible in Turkey, but they are not legally casual. Turkish labor law offers several structured flexibility tools—part-time work, on-call work, remote work, and flexible working-time distribution through balancing—but each one has its own rules on contracts, scheduling, equality, equipment, costs, safety, and later change management. The law does not appear to recognize “hybrid work” as a separate statutory category, yet it clearly accommodates partly remote arrangements through the remote-work framework.
For employers, the safest approach is to choose the correct legal model first and then document it properly. That means written remote-work terms where hybrid or remote work exists, clear part-time or on-call structures where those models are used, lawful working-time design, express cost and equipment rules, active OHS compliance, and careful use of Article 22 where the business wants to change an established arrangement. For employees, the main lesson is that flexible work does not erase labor rights; it changes the factual setting in which those rights operate. In Turkish labor practice, the strongest flexible work model is not the most informal one. It is the one that is clearly structured, documented, and legally aligned from the beginning.
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