Extended Summary

Technological developments, digital transformation, artificial intelligence technology, changing and transforming working conditions lead to the emergence and spread of new working models in work life. The fact that flexible working models such as remote working model have started to come to the agenda more frequently in terms of public administration and are included in various policy documents shows the increasing importance of the issue in terms of public administration. In this context, the topic of the research is the place of remote working model in Turkish public administration, remote working practices, current situation and reflections of remote working model in development plans.

First of all, the first large-scale visible implementation of the remote working model in the public sector in Turkey was during the Covid-19 pandemic. Within the scope of Covid-19, seven Presidential Circulars, the first of which was issued on March 22, 2020, were issued for public employees in order to minimize the spread of the pandemic across the country. With these circulars, it was stated that flexible working models such as remote working and rotational working could be applied to workers working in public institutions and organizations.

The main purpose of the study is to analyze the remote working model through development plans and to investigate the status of the model in Turkish public administration. Although the development plan envisages a remote or flexible working model, whether it has been put into practice or not is the issue of additional research and analysis. Within the scope of the study, questions such as which factors are effective in formulating policies on the remote working model in development plans and what are the technological, political and social conditions of the period in which the plans were formulated will be tried to be answered. Development plans, which are the main data sources of the study, will be analyzed with the content analysis technique to reveal the perspective on the remote working model.

The terms “remote work and flexible working” were searched in all development plans and it was investigated whether any status determination was made and whether the objectives and policies on the topic were determined.

When the development plans issued in Turkey are evaluated in terms of flexible and remote working model; there is no regulation on flexible working/remote working in other development plans issued before the Seventh Five-Year Development Plan. Although the main theme of this study is “remote working model”, determinations and policies related to “flexible working”, which is an inclusive concept that includes remote work in development plans, are also mentioned in this study. In this context, the determinations and predictions regarding flexible or remote working models have started to be included in the Seventh Five-Year Development Plan. In the Tenth Development Plan, one of the targets for human resources in the public sector is to expand flexible working models starting from the appropriate institutions and organizations. In the public personnel system, it has been determined that these working models will be developed starting from institutions and organizations with jobs and tasks suitable for flexible working styles. In this sense, this is the first time in this plan that flexible working models will be developed and piloted in the public sector.

In terms of the Development Plans in Turkey, it has been observed that, first and foremost, there is no system for reform efforts in the plans, and the plans do not go beyond small additions to the existing system (Çetin, 2010: 35-36). It can be said that the same determinations, policies, goals and targets are generally set. This can be understood from the fact that the same policies are set in medium-term and annual programs. For example, in the Annual Program for 2024 (p. 112) and the Medium Term Program (2023-2025), it is seen that the needs for expanding flexible working models in working life and legislative initiatives continue.

Factors such as compliance with the norms of the European Union and the International Labour Organization, adaptation of family and work life, digitalization, technological developments and globalization are effective in the development of flexible working models in working life. As a result, it is noteworthy that in each plan period, it has continued to be stated that there are legislative deficiencies on the issue and that no progress has been made in establishing the legal basis for the public sector. The effectiveness of the remote working model in the public sector is directly related to the adequacy of the legal and digital infrastructure, the adaptation skills of public personnel, and the adaptation of citizens and stakeholders. Therefore, public administration practitioners and policymakers should take all these dimensions into account and develop their strategies for remote working in a way that strengthens the digital infrastructure and increases the motivation of workers.