ILO launches “Care@Work Türkiye” project to promote care-supportive and resilient workplaces

ILO launches "Care@Work Türkiye" project to promote care-supportive and resilient workplaces

The new initiative aims to help enterprises recognize and support workers' care responsibilities, strengthening equality, productivity and decent work in Türkiye.

15 December 2025

ANKARA (ILO News) - The ILO Office for Türkiye has launched the "Care@Work Türkiye: Building Resilient and Care-Supportive Workplaces through Equality and Care Project" to promote equality, social justice and decent work by supporting enterprises in designing workplaces that recognize and respond to workers' paid-work and care responsibilities.

Funded by Sweden, the initiative aims to foster more inclusive, resilient and care-supportive workplaces, contributing to a more equitable labour market for all.

Yasser Hassan, Director of the ILO Office for Türkiye, stated: "At the centre of the project is the new Care-Supportive Workplace Model, a rights-based framework that helps enterprises identify, reduce and better manage the interaction between work demands and unpaid care responsibilities. The model builds directly on lessons learned from the successful implementation of the ILO Gender Equality Model for Enterprises (GEME) in
Türkiye. The GEME experience has shown that enterprises benefit from structured equality actions, institutional mechanisms, capacity-building and behaviour-change approaches. The new model expands this foundation by adding a strong care- responsibility dimension to enterprise policies and systems."

He added that the initiative aligns with key International Labour Standards, including Conventions No. 100, 111, 156 and 190, and builds on the ILO's longstanding commitment to gender equality in the world of work.

Swedish Ambassador Malena Mård stated: "In Sweden, we believe that a strong society is built on balance-between work, family, and community. Care-supportive workplaces reflect this value. By partnering with the ILO on this project, we aim to inspire approaches that empower employees, foster productivity, and uphold the human-centred values we share with Türkiye."

Although evidence from GEME demonstrates that care-responsive workplaces enhance productivity, retention and workforce resilience, employer awareness of these benefits remains low. In Türkiye, women continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of unpaid care work, limiting their ability to enter, remain and progress in the labour market. Many workplaces still lack care-supportive policies, such as flexible work arrangements and care leave, that enable workers, particularly women, to balance employment and caregiving responsibilities. The Care@Work Türkiye project seeks to address this gap by encouraging enterprises to understand caregiving responsibilities, adopt supportive practices and recognize the business value of equitable, care-responsive workplaces.

The project will be implemented over 18 months by the International Labour Organization with funding from Sweden, which supports rights-based workplace transformation and gender equality. Pilot enterprises from various sectors will participate in testing the model, while government institutions, social partners and international financial institutions will contribute to policy alignment, social dialogue and nationwide dissemination.

Although piloting will take place in selected enterprises, the project will operate nationwide, engaging stakeholders across Türkiye through policy dialogue, awareness- raising and knowledge-sharing activities consistent with the ILO's mandate to support decent work at the country level.