Turkey: what an employee costs an employer
Gross salary is what the employee sees. This is what leaves the company: the statutory contributions the employer pays on top, the hours a year they are spread over, and what one hour of ten different roles actually costs.
Gross salary × 1.23. Statutory employer contributions add 22.7% on top of gross pay, over 2,079 working hours a year.
What is added to gross salary
Known locally as işveren maliyeti.
| Contribution | Covers | Employer rate |
|---|---|---|
| SGK işveren payı up to a ceiling | Pension | 20.75% |
| İşsizlik sigortası işveren payı up to a ceiling | Unemployment | 2% |
| 5 puanlık hazine indirimi (uygun işverenler) varies by region or sector | Other | −5% |
| Total | ×1.23 | 22.7% |
45 h a week × 52 − (14 vacation days + 15 public holidays) = 2,079 h a year.
That is the statutory cost and nothing else. Equipment, software, workspace and voluntary benefits sit on top of it, which is why the calculators default to ×1.3 rather than to this figure — a number you can defend line by line is worth more than a rounder one.
Employer cost per hour, by role
| Role | Gross salary | Employer cost / year | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineer | TRY 1,100,000 | TRY 1,350,000 | TRY 649 |
| Senior software engineer | TRY 1,860,000 | TRY 2,283,000 | TRY 1,098 |
| Product manager | TRY 1,230,000 | TRY 1,510,000 | TRY 726 |
| Product designer | TRY 970,000 | TRY 1,191,000 | TRY 573 |
| Marketing manager | TRY 1,740,000 | TRY 2,136,000 | TRY 1,027 |
| Sales / account executive | TRY 660,000 | TRY 810,200 | TRY 390 |
| Customer support | TRY 438,000 | TRY 537,600 | TRY 259 |
| Data analyst | TRY 750,000 | TRY 920,600 | TRY 443 |
| Engineering manager | TRY 2,480,000 | TRY 3,044,000 | TRY 1,464 |
| Office / admin assistant | TRY 496,000 | TRY 608,800 | TRY 293 |
Compared with its neighbours
| Country | Multiplier | Hours / year | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | ×1.23 | 2,079 | TRY 649 |
| Poland | ×1.22 | 1,768 | PLN 106 |
| Germany | ×1.24 | 1,760 | €40.85 |
| United Arab Emirates | ×1.09 | 2,025 | AED 59.65 |
Each figure is in that country's own currency, at that country's own multiplier and working year. There is no exchange rate in this table — the multiplier and the hours are what compare directly.
Run it with your own numbers
The meeting, switching and downtime calculators all price an hour of someone's time. This one opens with the multiplier and the working year already filled in: Turkey.
Sources
Checked 2026-08