How to Draw Up a Hybrid Working Agreement: The 2026 Amendment and Obligations

What Did the 2026 Amendment Introduce for Hybrid Working?

The amendment published in the Official Gazette dated 25 September 2026 and numbered 33381 added a new paragraph to Article 9 of the Regulation on Remote Working, which governs working time. Accordingly, the parties may agree that part of the work will be performed at the workplace and part remotely. In that case, the employment agreement must specify the days and hours during which the employee will work at the workplace and remotely. The amendment entered into force on the same day.

The Regulation’s existing definition of a remote worker already covered an employee who performed all or part of their work remotely. The significance of the new provision is that it regulates the hybrid model separately and expressly, particularly by making the days and hours of work part of the agreement’s required content. The amendment neither gives every employee a unilateral right to work remotely nor requires employers to adopt hybrid working. As a rule, establishing this model depends on agreement between the employee and the employer.

The amendment does not provide for a specific transition period for existing hybrid arrangements. It is therefore important to review the existing records of employees who were already working under a hybrid arrangement before 25 September 2026 but whose agreements do not expressly state their working days and hours. Clarifying the arrangement through a written supplementary protocol may help reduce future disputes concerning the place and duration of work.

What Information Must a Hybrid Working Agreement Contain?

An employment agreement concerning remote working must be made in writing. It must state the description of the work and how it will be performed, the duration and place of work, remuneration and payment terms, the tools and equipment provided by the employer, the obligations relating to their protection, the method of communication, and the general or specific working conditions. For hybrid working, the new amendment expressly adds the days on which work will be performed at the workplace and remotely, together with the applicable working hours.

General statements that the employee may work from home when necessary or that the working arrangement will be determined by the employer may not always provide the degree of clarity required by the new provision. If there is a fixed arrangement, the days and hours may be stated directly. If the nature of the work requires a variable schedule, specifying in the agreement the procedure, notice period, and communication channel for changes will reduce the risk of disputes. However, schedule changes cannot override statutory limits on working time or the employee’s rest entitlements.

The location from which remote work will be performed should also be specified as precisely as possible. If the employee is permitted to work from multiple addresses or from abroad, this may give rise to additional implications concerning occupational health and safety, data security, tax, social security, and permission to work in another country. Cross-border remote working, in particular, should not be treated as an ordinary change of address; it must be assessed separately for each country and specific working arrangement.

How Can an Existing Employee Transition to Hybrid Working?

An employment relationship may be established from the outset on a remote or hybrid working basis. The employment agreement of an employee who currently works at the workplace may be converted into a remote working agreement by mutual agreement between the employee and the employer. The employee submits a written request to work remotely, and the employer assesses it with regard to the nature of the work and the employee’s circumstances. Under the Regulation, the outcome of the assessment should be notified in writing within thirty days. Submitting a request does not, by itself, oblige the employer to accept it.

A subsequent change to the days worked at the workplace and remotely may constitute a material change in working conditions, having regard to the terms of the agreement and established workplace practices. It should not be assumed that the employer’s managerial authority permits every change to be made unilaterally. If the change is material in the circumstances, the written amendment procedure under the Turkish Employment Law must be followed. An exceptional situation arises where all or part of the workplace transitions to remote working for compelling reasons specified by legislation; in that case, the employee’s request or consent is not required.

An employee who has transitioned to remote working may request to return to working at the workplace. The employer must give priority to considering this request, but the Regulation does not require the request to be accepted. The nature of the work, workplace organization, the terms of the agreement, and the parties’ previous practices should be assessed together.

Who Pays for Equipment and Home-Working Expenses?

As a rule, the employer must provide the materials and work equipment required for remote working unless otherwise agreed in the employment agreement. The employee must be clearly informed of the conditions governing the use, maintenance, and repair of equipment provided by the employer. A list showing the value of the equipment on the date of delivery must be prepared and provided to the employee, with a signed copy retained in the employee’s personnel file. No separate document is required if the list is included in the employment agreement or an annex to it.

The treatment of internet, communication, software, electricity, and similar expenses frequently gives rise to disputes in practice. The Regulation does not state that all household expenses must automatically be paid by the employer in a fixed amount. Instead, it requires the agreement to set out the principles for identifying and reimbursing necessary expenses directly related to the production of goods or services arising from the performance of the work. The agreement should therefore clearly specify which expenses will be reimbursed, the supporting documents required, the applicable limits, and the method of payment.

A remote employee cannot be treated differently from a comparable employee solely because of the nature of their agreement; there must be a substantive reason for any difference in treatment. The application of meal, transport, or similar benefits on hybrid working days should be determined by considering the purpose of the benefit, the employment agreement, the collective bargaining agreement, and established workplace practices together. There is no single outcome applicable in every case.

How Are Overtime and Working Time Proven in Hybrid Working?

Remote working does not displace the rules on working time and overtime. The time period and duration of work must be stated in the agreement, and the employer must organize the workload and communication expectations in line with that schedule. Under the Regulation, overtime is performed at the employer’s written request and with the employee’s consent, in compliance with the applicable legislation. Merely including a reference to flexible working in the agreement does not justify exceeding statutory limits or failing to compensate overtime actually performed.

In a hybrid model, physical entry and exit records may not cover remote working days. Login records, task-management systems, corporate email timestamps, meeting records, written overtime requests, and approval processes should therefore be maintained in a lawful, consistent, and auditable manner. However, the fact that a message was sent at night does not, by itself, establish that the employee worked continuously until the time it was sent. The content and continuity of the evidence and its consistency with other records are assessed together.

In its decision dated 12 January 2026, the Ninth Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) held that dismissing claims for overtime and work performed on public holidays and rest days for lack of proof, without examining the computer, email, telephone, and message records relied upon, amounted to an incomplete examination. In its decision dated 3 March 2025, the same Chamber upheld the dismissal of claims for overtime and holiday pay where it could not be determined how much of their working time the employee working from home had devoted to the employer and where the witnesses had no first-hand knowledge of the working arrangement. Considered together, these decisions demonstrate the importance of detailed and reliable digital records in hybrid working.

Data Protection and Occupational Health and Safety Obligations

The employer must inform the employee about the protection and sharing of data relating to the workplace and the work performed and must take the necessary measures. The scope of the data to be protected must be specified in the agreement, and the employee must comply with the notified workplace rules. Matters such as the use of corporate devices, access from personal devices, file transfers, passwords and multi-factor authentication, physical document storage, the use of shared networks, and data breach reporting may be regulated in a manner suited to the working arrangement.

If digital monitoring tools used to measure working time or performance process personal data, Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data also applies. The purpose and legal basis for processing must be determined, the employee must be informed, and the method selected must be relevant to the purpose, limited, and proportionate. Systems that collect only the minimum data required for the work and have a defined retention period should be preferred over undefined practices that continuously monitor all activity.

Remote or hybrid working does not terminate the employer’s occupational health and safety obligations. Depending on the nature of the work, the employer must inform the employee of applicable precautions, provide the necessary training and health surveillance, and take safety measures concerning the equipment it supplies. Risks relating to ergonomics, electrical safety, and work with display screen equipment should be addressed according to the nature of the work. No general conclusion can be drawn that every incident occurring at home will or will not automatically qualify as an occupational accident; its connection with the work must be assessed in light of the specific circumstances.

Which Records Should Employers and Employees Review?

When establishing a hybrid working arrangement, the employment agreement and actual practice must be consistent. The places of work, office and remote working days, start and finish times, rest breaks, procedure for schedule changes, communication hours, delivery of equipment, reimbursement of expenses, overtime approval, data security, and occupational health and safety documents should be reviewed together. A general workplace policy should not replace the individual employment agreement, and there should be no inconsistency between them.

A deficiency in the agreement or actual practice does not produce the same legal consequence in every case. Depending on the nature of the dispute, issues may arise concerning claims for remuneration and overtime pay, changes to working conditions, the duty of equal treatment, personal data protection, or occupational health and safety provisions. It is therefore important for the parties to retain employment agreements, supplementary protocols, payroll records, assignment records, approvals, delivery records, and working-time records in an orderly manner. The specific outcome may vary according to the nature of the work, the terms of the agreement, the actual working arrangement, and the available evidence.

Frequently Asked Questions