How to choose HR software in Turkey

Why does HR software selection matter so much in Turkey?

HR software becomes the single source of truth for employee records, leave, timekeeping and often payroll. A poor choice rarely shows up in the first few months. Problems usually surface at the first year end close, the first labour inspection or the first major reorganisation. At that point, migrating data, rebuilding processes and retraining users costs far more than a few extra weeks spent on selection.

For foreign companies with a Turkish entity, there is an extra layer: global HR platforms often handle core records well but leave Turkish leave entitlements, overtime rules and payroll tax logic to manual workarounds. This guide sets out vendor neutral criteria and a simple scoring method you can use whatever shortlist you have.

What should you do before looking at vendors?

Document your current processes first. How do leave requests arrive today, who approves them, and where are balances kept? What feeds the timesheet? Is payroll calculated in house or by an external accounting firm (a "mali müşavir", a certified public accountant who often runs payroll for smaller Turkish entities)? The answers decide which modules you actually need.

Next, identify stakeholders. If HR decides alone, objections from finance, IT and legal tend to arrive at contract stage. Form a small selection committee: HR, the payroll owner, finance, IT and ideally a line manager from the field. Ask each to write down their non negotiable requirements.

Finally, define success. Concrete goals such as "shorten payroll close", "eliminate leave balance errors" or "give field staff mobile access" tell you what to look for in a demo.

• List current processes and the spreadsheets that support them.
• Record headcount, locations and the share of shift workers.
• Add growth plans and any new legal entities expected in the next two to three years.
• Keep must have and nice to have requirements in separate lists.

Which modules do you really need?

HR software is usually sold in modules, and each extra module adds cost and implementation time. For a typical mid sized company the core layer is: employee records and org chart, leave management, time and attendance, and payroll or a payroll integration. Performance, recruitment, benefits and learning can wait for a second phase.

What matters is that the core is solid. If employee master data is wrong, leave entitlements are wrong; if the timesheet is wrong, payroll is wrong. Give most of the weight in your evaluation to these core modules. For detailed payroll criteria see our payroll software guide, and for attendance tracking see the time and attendance system guide.

How do you check compliance with Turkish labour law?

The most common gap in global or general purpose systems is that Turkey specific rules are missing or need manual configuration. Ask about the following in the demo, with concrete examples:

• Is annual leave calculated automatically by seniority? (1 to 5 years 14 days, 5 to 15 years 20 days, 15 years and over 26 days; at least 20 days for employees aged 18 or under and 50 or over)
• Is overtime calculated as hours above 45 per week, paid at a 50% premium, with the 270 hour annual cap tracked?
• Are statutory excuse leaves defined, such as marriage and bereavement (3 days) and paternity (10 days)?
• Are income tax brackets applied to the cumulative tax base, and are the minimum wage exemption and stamp duty deducted correctly?
• Are SGK (Social Security Institution) missing day reasons and premium days reported correctly?
• Who updates statutory parameters (minimum wage, SGK ceiling, tax brackets) at the start of the year, and how quickly?

Test these with a scenario that looks like your own data rather than accepting general assurances. For example, ask the system to show how the tax bracket changes for an employee who joined in February and whose cumulative tax base passes TRY 190,000 in April. You can compare current figures on the payroll parameters page.

What should you check for data security and KVKK?

HR software holds the most sensitive personal data a company has: identity details, salaries, medical reports and special category data such as union membership or disability. Under KVKK (Turkey's Personal Data Protection Law), you are the data controller and the software provider is usually a data processor. That relationship must be defined clearly in the contract.

• In which country and data centre is data hosted? If data is transferred abroad, what legal basis is used?
• How granular is role based access? Can a manager see only their own team's data?
• Are access and change logs kept, and for how long?
• Can retention and deletion periods be configured? When and how is a leaver's data deleted?
• What are the backup frequency, disaster recovery plan and independent security audits?

Get the answers in writing. Verbal assurances do not help during a data breach or an audit. Group companies should also check how the Turkish entity's data relates to any global HR platform.

How do you evaluate integration and data migration?

An HR system does not work alone. It needs to talk to accounting software, attendance devices, bank payment files, email and identity providers. Look at three things: are there ready made connectors, is there an open and documented API, and can you bulk import and export (Excel, CSV)?

Data migration is where projects slip most. How will existing employee files, leave balances, cumulative tax bases and past payrolls move to the new system? If you switch mid year, the cumulative tax base must be carried over accurately; otherwise employees are taxed in the wrong bracket. Ask the vendor for a migration plan, template files and a trial load.

Why do usability and mobile access matter?

An HR system is only as valuable as its usage. A field employee who must sit at a computer to request leave will keep sending requests by phone or on paper. Mobile apps, notifications, behaviour on weak connections and the quality of both the Turkish and English interfaces should be part of the evaluation, especially if expatriate managers approve requests from Turkish staff.

The best way to measure usability is a short test with real users. Ask a field employee to request leave, a manager to approve it and an HR specialist to run a report. Count the clicks and note where they get stuck.

How do you calculate total cost of ownership?

The licence fee is only part of the cost. Add implementation fees, data migration, training, extra module and extra user fees, integration development, support packages, annual price increase terms and the cost of getting your data back at contract end. Count internal effort too: HR and IT hours spent on the project are a real cost.

When comparing offers, ask every vendor for a three year total cost table in the same format. Clarify whether per user pricing counts active employees or everyone ever stored in the system. To see the broader picture of employment cost in Turkey, use the employer cost calculator.

How do you build an evaluation table? (scoring example)

Weighted scoring turns subjective impressions into something comparable. First fix the criteria and their weights (total 100). Then score each candidate system from 1 to 5 on each criterion. The weighted score is weight multiplied by score, divided by 5, so the maximum total is 100.

Here both systems score the same total, which shows that scoring alone does not make the decision. Go back to your must haves. System B scored 3 on Turkish compliance: will the missing rules be handled manually, and is that risk acceptable? If compliance is a knock out criterion for you, System A comes first even with an equal total. Set weights before scoring and do not change them afterwards; otherwise the table only confirms a decision already made.

What should you test in the demo and trial?

Standard demos show the vendor's strongest scenarios. Send your own scenarios in advance and ask for the demo to follow them. If possible, work with your own anonymised data in a trial environment.

• Leave entitlement and seniority date for an employee who joined mid year
• The timesheet of an employee with two days of unpaid leave and 10 hours of overtime in a month
• Different approval flows for different locations
• Automatic permission updates when a manager's team changes
• Severance and notice pay for a leaver
• How the annual statutory parameter update is applied

You can check the system's output independently against the severance pay calculator and the annual leave calculator.

What should you watch for in references and the contract?

Ask for references from customers of similar size and sector, and speak to them directly. The questions are simple: did implementation finish on time, did year start parameter updates arrive on time, and how quickly are support tickets resolved?

The contract should spell out a service level commitment (availability and support response times), a data processing agreement, price increase limits, and the format and timeline for returning your data at contract end. Make sure you can get your data back in a readable format without extra fees.

How should you plan implementation?

Phase the rollout rather than switching on every module at once. Employee records and leave first, then time and attendance, then payroll is a sensible order. Run at least one month of parallel payroll: calculate the same payroll in the old and new system and review differences line by line. For details on building the monthly timesheet, see how to prepare a timesheet in Turkey.

• Name a project owner and a sponsor with decision authority.
• Clean data before migrating it.
• Plan training by role.
• Avoid go live dates that clash with year end close or public holiday periods.