More and more companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland have their customer service delivered from Türkiye. This guide sums up what you should know about costs, data protection and choosing a location – plainly and with sources.
Why Türkiye?
- Time zone: Türkiye is on UTC+3 all year. The difference to Germany is one hour in summer and two in winter – German business hours can be covered without night shifts.
- German-speaking staff: German-language call centres in Türkiye have long employed people who grew up in Germany and returned (Boğaziçi University). Many speak German at native level.
- Multilingual: CCG has around 150 employees working in six languages: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian.
What does customer service really cost?
The German statutory minimum wage is €13.90 per hour in 2026 and rises to €14.60 in 2027 (German Federal Government). What matters, though, is not the hourly wage but what a productive hour costs: holidays, public holidays, sickness, breaks and training reduce the hours a team is actually available to customers – often by a quarter to a third.
Use our cost calculator to work out the cost per logged-in and productive hour for your own team and compare it directly. CCG prices start at €3,400 per FTE per month.
Working time and public holidays in Türkiye
Turkish labour law (No. 4857) allows a regular working week of up to 45 hours. In 2026 Türkiye has 15.5 public holidays (overview), including the moveable Ramadan and Sacrifice Feast days. Agree with your provider in advance how your service hours are covered on those days.
Data protection: what is legally required
There is no EU adequacy decision for Türkiye. Transfers of personal data therefore need appropriate safeguards – in practice the EU standard contractual clauses (Art. 46 GDPR), a transfer impact assessment and a data processing agreement (Art. 28 GDPR). Turkish data protection law (KVKK) applies in addition.
How CCG handles this is described under Data Protection & Information Security. CCG is certified to ISO 27001 and ISO 9001. For your own assessment: GDPR checklist as PDF.
Türkiye or an EU location?
| Criterion | EU location (e.g. Poland, Bulgaria) | Türkiye |
|---|---|---|
| Data transfer | within the EU, no third-country safeguards needed | third country: standard contractual clauses and transfer impact assessment |
| Time difference to Germany | 0–1 hour | 1–2 hours |
| German-speaking staff | limited depending on the region | many returnees with native-level German |
| Other languages | depending on the site | six languages from a single provider at CCG |
The right choice depends on your volume, your languages and your data protection assessment. We are happy to advise – even if another location turns out to be the better fit.
Getting started with CCG
After an initial call and a proposal, a pilot usually starts within 1–2 weeks and full operation follows after 3–4 weeks, depending on team size. We respond within 24 hours.