Glossary
Turkish HR glossary
The terms Turkish payroll, attendance, and employment law actually use, each defined in plain language, with the current statutory rules where they apply. Written by Otto HR (ottohr.com) for HR teams in Turkey and for international companies hiring here.
What is oryantasyon (employee orientation) in Turkey?
Oryantasyon is the Turkish term for new-hire orientation: a structured first-day and first-week program that introduces a new employee to the company, the team and the role. For companies hiring in Turkey it marks the practical start of onboarding, and it normally includes the workplace safety training that Turkish law requires for every new hire.
What is puantaj?
Puantaj is the statutory attendance record Turkish employers keep for every employee: days worked, clock-in and clock-out times, overtime, leave, and absences. Monthly payroll (bordro) and social security filings are calculated from it, and Turkish labor law obliges employers to document working time and keep the records available for inspection.
What is a puantör?
A puantör is the person who collects and checks employee clock records, days worked, shifts, leave, absences and overtime in a Turkish workplace, then prepares the approved monthly puantaj that payroll uses. The puantör does not necessarily calculate payroll: the role is to make sure working-time data reaches the payroll team complete, consistent and approved.
What is a çalışma belgesi in Turkey?
A çalışma belgesi is an employment certificate the employer gives a departing employee, stating the type of work performed and the employment period. Article 28 of Turkish Labor Law No. 4857 requires the certificate, and the employer may be liable for loss caused by issuing it late or with inaccurate information.
What is İKYS?
İKYS stands for İnsan Kaynakları Yönetim Sistemi, or Human Resources Management System. It manages employee records and processes such as recruiting, personnel files, leave, working time, payroll preparation, performance and reporting on a shared data model. Its purpose is a single, auditable employee lifecycle record, not merely digital forms.
What was AGİ (Asgari Geçim İndirimi)?
AGİ (Asgari Geçim İndirimi, Turkey's minimum living allowance) was an income-tax relief that raised employees' net pay based on marital status and number of children. It was abolished on 1 January 2022 by Law No. 7349 and replaced by an income and stamp tax exemption on the minimum-wage portion of every salary. Turkish payslips no longer show an AGİ line.
What is paid leave (ücretli izin) in Turkey?
Ücretli izin is the Turkish umbrella term for paid leave: time an employee does not work but must be paid in full. Under Labor Law No. 4857 it covers annual paid leave (14–26 working days by seniority), statutory excuse leaves such as marriage and paternity, the weekly rest day, and national and public holidays.
What is an özlük dosyası (Turkish personnel file)?
An özlük dosyası is the personnel file Turkish law requires employers to keep for every employee, mandated by Article 75 of Labor Code No. 4857. It holds the employment contract, identity records, social security filings, health reports, and disciplinary records, and must be kept confidential and produced to labor inspectors on request.
What is PDKS?
PDKS (Personel Devam Kontrol Sistemi) is the Turkish term for an attendance control system: hardware or software that records when employees clock in and out, via card readers, fingerprint scanners, facial recognition, or mobile apps. In Turkish payroll practice, PDKS records feed the monthly timesheet (puantaj), which in turn drives salary, overtime, and absence calculations.
What is an ATS (Aday Takip Sistemi)?
An ATS (applicant tracking system, Aday Takip Sistemi in Turkish) is software that runs a company's hiring in one place: it publishes job ads, collects applications, moves candidates through pipeline stages, schedules interviews, and keeps notes and evaluations on each candidate's record. For teams hiring in Turkey, it also centralizes candidate data covered by KVKK, Turkey's data-protection law.
What is insan kaynakları (HR in Turkey)?
İnsan kaynakları, literally "human resources", is the Turkish term for the HR function: hiring, onboarding, payroll (bordro), leave, performance, and employee records. In Turkish companies the same team owns statutory compliance too, under Labor Law No. 4857, Social Security Law No. 5510, OHS Law No. 6331 and data protection Law No. 6698, so İK sits closer to payroll and labor law than HR does in many Western firms.
What is bordrolama in Turkish payroll?
Bordrolama is the Turkish term for payroll processing: the monthly cycle of collecting time and leave data, calculating gross-to-net pay under Turkish tax and social security rules, filing the combined withholding and premium declaration, and delivering payslips to employees. The bordro is the payslip document, and bordrolama is the process that produces it.
What is kıdem tazminatı, Turkey's severance pay?
Kıdem tazminatı is Turkey's statutory severance payment: an employee with at least one year of service receives 30 days' gross pay for each full year when employment ends for a qualifying reason. The base is the last 'dressed' gross wage, salary plus regular benefits, and each year's payout is capped by a state-set ceiling updated twice a year.
What is Turkey's severance pay ceiling (kıdem tazminatı tavanı)?
Turkey caps statutory severance pay per year of service: under Article 14 of former Labor Law No. 1475, no year of service may pay more than the highest civil servant's maximum one-year retirement bonus, which is TRY 73,729.87 for 1 July – 31 December 2026. The ceiling resets every January and July with the civil-servant pay coefficient.
What is the işe giriş bildirgesi, Turkey's SGK new-hire declaration?
The işe giriş bildirgesi (SGK new-hire declaration) is the filing that registers a new employee with Turkey's Social Security Institution under Article 8 of Law No. 5510. As a rule the employer must submit it electronically before the employment start date. Construction, fishing and agriculture may file on the first day, and brand-new workplaces get one month.
What is Turkish Labor Law No. 4857?
Labor Law No. 4857, in force since 2003, is the backbone statute governing employment in Turkey. It regulates employment contracts, wages, the 45-hour working week, overtime, annual leave, termination notice and job security. Turkey has no at-will employment: dismissal requires notice by tenure and, in larger workplaces, valid grounds that courts can review.
What counts as personal data under Turkey's KVKK?
Kişisel veri, or personal data, means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person under Turkey's Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698 (KVKK), Article 3. The definition tracks the GDPR's, but KVKK is a separate regime with its own lawful bases, privacy-notice duty and cross-border transfer rules, and GDPR compliance alone does not satisfy it.
How does private health insurance work as an employee benefit in Turkey?
Every employee in Turkey is covered by statutory general health insurance (GSS) under Law No. 5510, so private plans are a differentiator, not a necessity: özel sağlık sigortası (private health insurance) buys access and scope beyond the public system, while tamamlayıcı (complementary) insurance covers the co-payments at SGK-contracted private hospitals. Employer-paid premiums enjoy capped tax and social-security advantages.
How does onboarding work in the Turkish employment context?
Onboarding (işe alıştırma in Turkish) is the structured process that takes a new hire from signed offer to full productivity over weeks or months. In Turkey it carries a statutory layer: the SGK new-hire declaration (işe giriş bildirgesi) is due before the first working day, a personnel file (özlük dosyası) is mandatory, and safety training must precede the work itself.
How do job descriptions work for employees in Turkey?
İş tanımı (also called görev tanımı) is the written job description in Turkish workplaces: title, reporting line, duties, authorities and required qualifications. It carries more legal weight than many employers expect: under Labor Law No. 4857, a material unilateral change to the agreed job binds the employee only with written notice and written acceptance within six working days (Article 22).
How does unpaid leave (ücretsiz izin) work in Turkey?
Ücretsiz izin (unpaid leave) suspends a Turkish employment contract without ending it: no work, no pay, no social security premium days. Only two unpaid leaves are statutory: travel leave up to four days and up to six months following maternity leave. Everything else requires mutual written consent, and imposing it unilaterally counts in court practice as a de facto dismissal.
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About this glossary
- Who publishes the Turkish HR glossary?
- Otto HR (ottohr.com). The entries explain Turkish payroll, attendance, and employment-law terms for teams hiring in Türkiye. They are not a job-search guide and not affiliated with other Otto brands.
- Is this glossary a substitute for the HR product?
- No. It defines the words. The software that runs hiring, leave, and bordro on one record is at /insan-kaynaklari-yazilimi and /platform.
- Does Otto HR invent ratings or case studies here?
- No. Statutory figures carry their legal source. Product pricing is on /pricing. This hub has no aggregate ratings.