New starters

How Much Does It Cost to Equip a New Employee in the UK? 2026 Guide

What does it really cost to equip a new employee in the UK? We break down laptops, monitors, accessories, hidden IT costs and buying versus monthly rental.

DeskStack · 15 September 2026 · 15 min read

Hiring someone is expensive before they have even completed their first day. Salary, recruitment and software licences tend to get most of the attention, but there is another cost that can land all at once: the equipment needed to get that employee working.

For a typical office-based employee, that can mean a business laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, docking connectivity, power supplies and cables. For hybrid or remote staff, you may also need to think about delivery and whether their home workstation is suitable.

So how much does it cost to equip a new employee in the UK in 2026? The answer depends heavily on the role and whether you buy, redeploy existing equipment or rent it. But for many businesses, a complete new business-grade setup can represent well over £1,000 of upfront hardware spend for just one person.

How much does it cost to equip a new employee?

There is no single standard figure because a salesperson using email and a CRM does not need the same hardware as an engineer, designer or data analyst.

However, the core equipment list for a typical office employee often looks something like this:

Equipment	Typical requirement	Do you need it?
Business laptop	Modern business laptop suitable for Microsoft 365, web applications, video calls and everyday multitasking	Usually
External monitor	Typically 24 to 27 inches for a permanent desk setup	Often
Docking connectivity	USB-C or Thunderbolt dock, or a monitor with integrated USB-C docking	Often
Keyboard and mouse	Wired or wireless depending on the role and desk setup	Usually
Headset	Useful for Teams, Zoom, calls and hybrid meetings	Role dependent
Second monitor	Useful for finance, operations, development and other multitasking-heavy roles	Role dependent

This guide is specifically about physical IT equipment. Recruitment fees, salary, office furniture, mobile phones and software subscriptions such as Microsoft 365 can add considerably more to the overall cost of onboarding an employee.

A real 2026 example: the bill can exceed £1,300 before accessories

Rather than inventing an unrealistic “average laptop price”, it is useful to look at a live manufacturer example.

At the time this guide was researched in September 2026, Dell UK listed a Dell Latitude 5455 business laptop configuration at £1,159.54 excluding VAT. Dell also listed its 23.8-inch Pro 24 Plus USB-C Hub Monitor P2425HE at £156 excluding VAT.

Example purchase	Current example price ex VAT
Dell Latitude business laptop	£1,159.54
Dell 23.8-inch USB-C hub monitor	£156.00
Laptop + monitor only	£1,315.54

This is a current manufacturer example, not a claim that every business must spend this amount or that it represents the cheapest equipment available. Prices, specifications and promotions change.

Importantly, £1,315.54 is only the laptop and monitor in that example. You may still require a keyboard, mouse, headset, additional cables and other equipment.

That means an employer hiring several people at once can very quickly turn a recruitment decision into a five-figure hardware purchase.

What happens if you hire 5 or 10 employees?

The per-person cost becomes much more noticeable when a business is growing quickly.

Using the £1,315.54 laptop-and-monitor example above purely as an illustration:

New employees	Laptop + monitor example	Accessories still to add
1 employee	£1,315.54	Yes
5 employees	£6,577.70	Yes
10 employees	£13,155.40	Yes

For a business adding ten employees, that is more than £13,000 ex VAT of hardware expenditure before keyboards, mice and headsets have even been added.

Buying can absolutely make financial sense where those employees are permanent, the hardware will remain useful for several years and the business is comfortable owning and managing the assets.

But it is worth asking a second question:

Do we actually need to own all of this equipment from day one?

Buying versus monthly rental for a new employee

One alternative is to convert the initial hardware requirement into a monthly rental.

DeskStack currently offers a business laptop rental from £29 per month + VAT. For an employee who needs a complete desk setup, the DeskStack Workstation currently starts from £51.97 per month + VAT.

The Workstation currently combines a business laptop, 24-inch docking monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset and required cables into one monthly rental. Exact equipment, availability and final terms are confirmed before a rental is accepted.

DeskStack Workstation	Rental cost ex VAT
Per month	£51.97
First 3 months	£155.91
6 months	£311.82
12 months	£623.64

DeskStack has a three-month minimum rental period. After the minimum term, the rental can continue monthly under the agreed terms.

That does not mean renting is always cheaper. With a purchase, the business owns an asset that may continue to be used for years and may retain some resale value. With rental, DeskStack retains ownership and the equipment is returned when the rental ends.

The commercial benefit of rental is therefore usually flexibility and reduced upfront expenditure, rather than claiming that rental will always have the lowest lifetime cost.

You can compare the options in more detail in our guide to how monthly laptop rental works.

When does renting equipment for a new employee make sense?

Rental becomes particularly interesting when the length of the business requirement is less certain than the useful life of the hardware.

1. You are growing quickly

If five people join in one month, buying everything at once can create a substantial cash requirement. Monthly rental can allow a business to deploy equipment without making the same large initial hardware purchase.

2. The employee is on a fixed-term contract

Buying a laptop for a six-month role can leave the business owning equipment after the role disappears. A rental allows the equipment commitment to be more closely aligned with the requirement.

3. You are hiring into a new role

Sometimes a company does not yet know whether a new function will become permanent, how quickly the team will grow or what the longer-term hardware standard should be.

4. You use contractors or project teams

Temporary project headcount can rise quickly and then disappear just as quickly. Purchasing every laptop permanently can create a cupboard full of spare equipment after a project finishes.

5. Cash flow matters more than asset ownership

A growing company may prefer to preserve several thousand pounds of working capital for recruitment, marketing, stock or other operating requirements rather than placing all of it into laptops and monitors.

If that sounds like your situation, you can build a DeskStack setup and see the current monthly price before submitting anything.

When is buying probably the better option?

We do not think every company should rent every computer.

Buying can be the more sensible choice where:

the employee is expected to remain in the role for several years;
the business wants to keep and depreciate or reuse the hardware;
you already have a mature IT asset-management process;
you maintain a useful internal pool of spare devices;
cash flow is not a constraint;
the equipment has a predictable long-term use within the company.

A useful approach for growing businesses is often a mixture: own the equipment you know you will need for years, and use rental capacity where headcount or duration is uncertain.

Don't forget the costs beyond the laptop

A common budgeting mistake is to approve £800 or £1,000 for a laptop and assume the employee is now equipped.

In reality, the laptop is only one part of a productive workstation.

Monitor and docking

An employee who spends most of the day at a desk may benefit from a separate display rather than working permanently from the laptop screen.

Some business monitors include USB-C docking, power delivery, USB connections and wired networking. That can remove the need for a separate docking station, but it changes the monitor cost.

Keyboard and mouse

These are relatively small purchases individually, but multiplied across 20 or 50 employees they still become a meaningful procurement line.

Headset

Hybrid meetings have made a business headset part of the standard setup for many employees. Call-heavy roles may require something more specialised than a basic headset.

Second display

Finance, accounts, operations, development, analytics and other roles that constantly work across several applications may benefit from dual monitors.

DeskStack offers both a standard complete workstation rental and dual-screen options, so businesses can match the equipment to the job rather than giving every employee the same specification.

There is also a cost to getting the specification wrong

Overbuying is one of the easiest ways to waste IT budget.

A general office employee using Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365, a CRM and browser-based applications probably does not require the same processor, memory or graphics capability as an engineer running specialist software.

But going too far in the other direction can be just as expensive. A device that struggles with the employee's normal workload creates lost time, support tickets and an earlier replacement cycle.

A better procurement process starts with the role:

What applications will the employee use every day?
How much multitasking is normal?
Do they need one screen or two?
Will they work at a fixed desk, remotely or both?
Do they require specialist graphics or unusually high memory?
What ports and docking connectivity are required?

This is why DeskStack lets businesses build the workstation around the employee rather than forcing every user into the same package.

What are the employer's DSE responsibilities?

Equipment cost is not the only consideration when setting up a new employee.

The Health and Safety Executive states that employers must protect workers from the health risks associated with display screen equipment when the regulations apply. For workers who use DSE daily for continuous periods of an hour or more, employers must carry out a workstation assessment, reduce identified risks, provide an eye test if requested and provide appropriate training and information.

HSE guidance also says an assessment should be carried out when a new workstation is set up or a new user starts work.

For prolonged laptop use, HSE specifically highlights the value of separating the keyboard and mouse so the laptop display can be raised, or using a separate display.

That is another reason the real cost of equipping an employee should be considered at workstation level, rather than treating the laptop as the entire setup.

What about employees working from home?

The same issue can apply to hybrid and home workers.

HSE guidance says the Display Screen Equipment Regulations can apply to employees who work from home permanently or regularly split their time between home and the workplace.

Where the regulations apply, employers should assess the individual workstation. HSE also says employers should make sure home workers can achieve a comfortable, sustainable working posture and that equipment provided is safe and suitable.

That may mean budgeting for more than simply posting a laptop to somebody's house.

For a hybrid worker, your equipment checklist might therefore include:

business laptop;
power supply;
external display;
keyboard and mouse;
headset;
docking or USB-C connectivity;
appropriate cables;
a process for recording who has each asset.

The hidden cost of spare equipment

Buying hardware has another cost that does not always appear in the original procurement calculation: what happens after the employee leaves?

If somebody leaves after six months, the business may still own a laptop, display, headset and peripherals purchased for a role that no longer exists.

That equipment can absolutely be redeployed to the next employee. In a stable organisation with regular recruitment, maintaining a sensible spare pool can be efficient.

The problem begins when the spare pool becomes a spare pile.

Unused hardware still represents capital tied up in equipment. It also needs to be stored, tracked, checked, updated and eventually reused, sold or disposed of.

For businesses where headcount moves up and down, rental can make that lifecycle simpler because equipment no longer required can be returned in accordance with the agreement.

What happens for accounting and tax purposes?

The tax treatment of buying and renting equipment is not identical, and businesses should take advice from their accountant based on their own circumstances.

GOV.UK states that businesses can claim capital allowances on qualifying equipment they keep and use in the business. The Annual Investment Allowance can allow qualifying businesses to deduct the full value of qualifying plant and machinery from profits, subject to the applicable rules and limits.

GOV.UK also makes clear that businesses generally cannot claim plant and machinery capital allowances on items they lease because they do not own those assets.

Rental charges and other recurring business costs can have different accounting and tax treatment. HMRC guidance says rent paid by an employer for assets leased for use by employees will normally be allowable in computing trading profits, although the exact position depends on the arrangement and circumstances.

Do not choose between buying and renting solely on a tax assumption. Ask your accountant how each option would be treated for your business.

A simple new employee equipment checklist

Before placing an order for a new starter, answer these questions:

What does the employee actually do? Define the applications and workload before choosing the specification.
Where will they work? Office, home, hybrid or travelling?
Do they need laptop only or a complete workstation?
Do they need one monitor or two?
What docking and connectivity is required?
Do they need a headset?
Is this permanent or temporary headcount?
Would buying or renting suit the expected period of use?
Who will record the equipment assigned to the employee?
What happens to the equipment when the employee leaves?

Answering those questions before the employee starts helps prevent both under-specifying the workstation and buying equipment the business does not actually need.

So, should you buy or rent equipment for a new employee?

There is no universal answer.

Buy when you are confident the equipment will have a long useful life inside the business and you want to own the asset.

Redeploy when you already have suitable equipment available internally.

Consider rental when the role, project duration or future headcount is uncertain, or when avoiding a large initial hardware purchase is valuable to the business.

Situation	Option worth considering
Permanent employee, predictable long-term requirement	Buying or redeploying existing equipment
New startup hire with uncertain future headcount	Rental
Three to twelve-month project	Rental
Contractor or fixed-term employee	Rental or existing spare equipment
Existing suitable laptop sitting unused	Redeploy it
Rapid recruitment of several employees	Compare buying and rental on cash flow and expected duration

How DeskStack can equip a new starter

DeskStack is built specifically around UK businesses that need laptops and workstation equipment without necessarily purchasing every device outright.

Current options include:

DeskStack Solo – laptop rental from £29 per month + VAT;
DeskStack Workstation – laptop, 24-inch docking monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset and required cables from £51.97 per month + VAT;
DeskStack Duo – a dual-display workstation for roles that benefit from more screen space.

Rentals have a three-month minimum and then continue monthly under the agreement. Equipment condition is shown before rental, and applicable rental equipment is checked before dispatch.

If you are equipping one to five people, you can build your setup and see the monthly price online.

If you are hiring a larger team or have different requirements for different roles, request a DeskStack quote and tell us the number of employees, roles, required date and delivery locations.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I budget for a new employee's computer equipment?

The amount depends on the hardware specification and whether the employee needs laptop-only or a full desk setup. A new business laptop alone can cost more than £1,000 at current manufacturer pricing, while a monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset and docking requirements add further cost. Refurbished equipment and rental can materially change the upfront budget.

Does every new employee need a monitor?

Not necessarily. It depends on the role and working pattern. However, employees who work for prolonged periods at a fixed workstation may benefit from a separate display, keyboard and mouse rather than using a laptop by itself.

Is it cheaper to rent or buy employee laptops?

It depends on how long the equipment will be needed. Buying can be more economical over a long lifecycle because the business owns the hardware. Rental can be attractive where the requirement is shorter or uncertain, or where reducing upfront expenditure is more important than ownership.

Can I rent equipment for just one new employee?

Yes. DeskStack's laptop and workstation rentals can start with one setup, subject to business approval, stock and availability.

How much does a DeskStack workstation cost?

At the time of writing, the standard DeskStack Workstation starts from £51.97 per month excluding VAT. It includes a business laptop, 24-inch docking monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset and required cables. Published pricing can change, so check the live setup builder for the current price.

What if I am hiring more than five employees?

DeskStack's online builder is designed for up to five identical workstations at a time. For larger or mixed deployments, contact the DeskStack business team with your expected headcount, roles, locations and required date.

What happens to rented equipment when an employee leaves?

If the business no longer needs the equipment, it can be returned in accordance with the rental agreement. If another employee needs it, speak to DeskStack about the appropriate next step for the deployed equipment.

Planning your next hire?

Before buying another laptop automatically, work out what the employee genuinely needs, how long you expect to need it and whether owning the equipment is important to your business.

For permanent predictable headcount, purchasing may make perfect sense. For growing teams, contractors, projects and roles where the future requirement is less certain, monthly rental gives you another option.

Build a DeskStack setup and see the current monthly cost, or request a quote if you are equipping a larger team.

Sources & references

References used to research and verify this guide.

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