Most small companies don't have an equipment policy. Usually that's because nobody thought they needed one. The laptop gets handed over, someone says "take care of it," and everyone moves on, which works fine until something goes wrong.
The trigger is usually something specific. Someone drops a laptop and nobody knows who pays for the repair. An employee leaves and takes a monitor home "by accident." The CEO asks "do we have a policy for this?" and the answer is a shrug. If that's where you are right now, this post is for you.
What an Equipment Policy Actually Covers
An equipment policy is a short document that answers the questions people are too polite to ask. It doesn't need to be long or written in legal language, just clear enough that when a situation comes up, everyone knows what the answer is.
Here's what a basic equipment policy covers:
- Ownership: The company owns everything it buys. This sounds obvious, but if you never say it, you get grey areas with monitors, keyboards, and peripherals.
- Acceptable use: Can employees use company gear for personal stuff? Most companies allow reasonable personal use. Some don't want personal software installed. Pick a lane and write it down.
- Damage and loss: What happens when something breaks? Who reports it, to whom, and within what timeframe? What about negligence versus genuine accidents?
- Return on departure: Everything comes back when someone leaves, so spell it out: the laptop, the charger, the USB hub and the mouse.
- Remote work equipment: If you have remote employees, who provides the monitor? Is there a stipend? Who owns the gear if they leave?
- Personal devices (BYOD): Are people allowed to use their own laptops for work? If so, what are the security expectations? (More on this later.)
A Template You Can Adapt
Below is a section-by-section walkthrough with example language. This isn't legal advice and it's not meant to be copy-pasted into a contract. It's a starting point. Adapt it to your company, get your team to read it, and if you want something legally binding, have a lawyer review it.
1. Ownership
Keep this dead simple:
"All equipment purchased by [Company Name] remains company property, regardless of where it's used or who uses it. This includes laptops, monitors, phones, peripherals, and accessories."
The reason to state this explicitly is that people sometimes assume peripherals are theirs. Especially smaller items like mice, headsets, or cables. If the company bought it, the company owns it.
2. Acceptable Use
"Company equipment is provided for work purposes. Reasonable personal use is permitted (checking personal email, streaming music). Employees should not install unauthorised software, disable security features, or lend equipment to others."
Most people have good judgement, so "reasonable" covers most of it and you don't need a page of rules. The policy is mostly there for the odd edge case.
3. Care and Damage
"Employees are expected to take reasonable care of company equipment. Damage, loss, or theft should be reported to [your ops person / manager] within 48 hours. Don't attempt repairs yourself. The company will cover repair or replacement costs for normal wear and tear and genuine accidents. Repeated negligence may result in the employee sharing repair costs."
This is the section people care about most. Make the reporting path clear. If someone spills coffee on a keyboard, they should feel safe telling you, not hide the evidence. The 48-hour window gives urgency without being unreasonable.
For the damage liability part, most small companies just cover everything. It's simpler and it avoids resentment. The negligence clause is a backstop for reckless behaviour, not for the occasional drop.
4. Return on Departure
"All company equipment must be returned on or before the employee's last day of work. This includes all peripherals and accessories issued with the primary device. Remote employees must ship equipment within 5 business days using a company-provided shipping label. Equipment should not be wiped or reset before return."
The "don't wipe it" part catches people off guard, but you need the data backed up before the device is reset. Have that in the policy so IT (or whoever handles devices) can do a proper handover. For a full breakdown of the return process, see our equipment offboarding checklist.
5. Remote Work Equipment
"Remote employees receive the same core equipment as in-office employees (laptop, charger, headset). For home office setup, the company provides a one-time stipend of [amount] towards a monitor, desk, or chair. Stipend-purchased items remain company property for the first 12 months. Equipment must be returned at the end of employment; the company will provide prepaid shipping."
Adjust the specifics. Some companies ship a full setup. Others give a stipend and let people choose. Either way, write down who owns what. The 12-month ownership clause on stipend items is a common middle ground: if someone leaves after 2 months, the monitor comes back. After a year, it's theirs.
6. Personal Devices (BYOD)
"At this time, employees should use company-provided equipment for work tasks. If you prefer to use your own device, please discuss with [ops person / manager] first."
For most small companies, this is enough. A formal BYOD policy with security requirements, MDM software, and compliance rules is something you can add later if you actually need it. Right now, just acknowledge the question and give people a person to ask.
What You Probably Don't Need Yet
When you start reading about equipment policies online, you'll find articles telling you to include depreciation schedules, asset disposal procedures, formal BYOD security requirements, and insurance documentation requirements. These are all real things that matter at a certain scale. But if you're a team of 10 to 50 people writing your first equipment policy, they'll just make the document longer and less likely to be read.
Here's what you can safely skip for now:
- Depreciation schedules: You don't need a formula for how much a laptop is worth after 3 years. Your accountant handles that.
- Detailed BYOD security policies: If everyone uses company gear, you don't need a BYOD policy. Don't create rules for situations that don't exist yet.
- Insurance requirements per employee: Your business insurance covers company equipment. You don't need employees to carry their own equipment insurance.
- Formal disposal procedures: When a laptop dies, you figure out what to do with it. You don't need a documented e-waste procedure until you're retiring equipment regularly.
Save these for version two or three of the policy. Having something written down now is more useful than waiting for a perfect version.
Making the Policy Stick
A policy document that sits in a Google Drive folder nobody opens is the same as not having a policy. Here's how to make it actually work:
Have People Sign an Equipment Agreement
When you assign equipment to someone, have them sign a short equipment agreement that lists exactly what they received. It's mostly there so the expectation is clear, not to win a legal argument. When someone signs a document that says "I received a MacBook Pro, charger, and USB-C hub, and I agree to return them when I leave," the expectation is clear.
Track What's Assigned
A policy that says "return everything on departure" only works if you know what "everything" is. You need a record of what each person has. A spreadsheet works at first, but it gets stale fast. A proper equipment tracking system keeps assignments current and makes offboarding straightforward.
Reference It in Onboarding
Include the equipment policy in your onboarding pack. Not buried in a 40-page handbook, but as a standalone document or a clear section. Day one, when someone gets their gear, is the natural moment to set expectations. They're paying attention while they're holding the laptop, and it takes 2 minutes to walk them through the basics.
Review It Annually
Your company will change. You might go remote, start providing stipends, or grow to the point where BYOD becomes a real question. Set a calendar reminder to review the policy once a year. Most years you won't change anything, but when you do, it'll be because the policy no longer fits reality.
Getting Started
It's fine if the first version isn't perfect, as long as it's written down. Take the template sections above, adapt them in half an hour, and share it with your team, which I suspect already puts you ahead of a lot of small companies.
Once the policy is in place, the next step is making it operational: start tracking your equipment in AssetJay so you know exactly what each person has and can reference it when the policy comes into play.
