Self-procurement vs. onyo – how much effort do you really want to absorb?
Ordering chairs, collecting delivery addresses, maintaining inventory lists, arguing during offboarding – DIY is doable, but expensive in time, tax risk and nerves. The comparison.
HR or office management procures, manages and recovers home-office equipment in-house.
End-to-end platform: procurement, logistics, inventory, offboarding & compliance from one source.
Self-procurement isn't cheaper – it's just more invisible.
DIY costs time first and foremost: procurement, inventory, delivery coordination, returns. The real pain hits at offboarding – gifting equipment to employees is a payroll-taxable event, selling it creates manual work and the risk that tax authorities classify it as a hidden gift. onyo solves both as a neutral third party: buyout at fair market price or free pickup – without effort, without tax risk.
What self-procurement actually costs
Sample figures per employee over 3 years. Process effort estimated conservatively.
| Self-procurement | onyo | |
|---|---|---|
| Procurement & delivery coordination | 2–4h per employee – HR/office | Employee orders themselves via portal |
| Inventory & documentation | Excel sheets, manual, error-prone | Automatically in the platform |
| Returns & service | Tickets across multiple suppliers | One contact – onyo |
| Offboarding process | Manual, case by case, legally tricky | Standardised: buyout or pickup |
| Tax risk on gifting | Payroll-taxable – must be declared | No risk – onyo sells as third party |
| Scalability | Effort scales linearly with each employee | Scales without additional HR effort |
Self-procurement
- Maximum control over suppliers and models
- Possibly better unit prices in bulk
- High manual effort during onboarding & offboarding
- Multiple suppliers, invoices and service contacts
- No central inventory view – Excel instead of platform
- Offboarding is legally & fiscally tricky:
- → Gifting to employees is a payroll-taxable event
- → Selling to employees creates manual work and audit risk (hidden gift)
- Compliance & occupational safety in home office often unclear
onyo
- One vendor, one contract, one monthly invoice
- Employees configure their own setup – HR is out of the loop
- Delivery, assembly, service and return logistics included
- Clean offboarding: onyo asks the employee whether they want to keep the equipment
- On buyout: onyo sells as a neutral third party at market price – no gifting risk
- On return: free pickup, refurbishment, reuse
- Compliance, safety and inventory in one platform
- Scales without extra HR effort from 10 to 10,000 employees
- Curated catalogue instead of fully free supplier choice
The underestimated killer: offboarding
During onboarding, equipment is often ordered enthusiastically. The real complexity hits when an employee leaves and the question pops up: what happens to the chair, the desk, the monitor?
Option A – gifting: gifting equipment to the employee triggers a payroll-taxable event. The fair value of the equipment counts as taxable benefit – including social contributions. What was meant as a gesture becomes a payroll task.
Option B – sale: the employee buys the equipment for residual value. That's clean – but manual work (valuation, contract, payment). If the residual value is set too low, tax authorities check whether it's a hidden gift. Tax risk and effort once again.
Option C – pickup: theoretically ideal, in practice cumbersome. Who collects? Who checks the condition? Where to store? Who refurbishes and resells?
How onyo solves offboarding
When an employee leaves, onyo reaches out to them directly – no detour through HR. Two paths are open:
1. Buyout: the employee buys the equipment via onyo at fair market price. Because onyo is a neutral third party rather than the employer, there is no gift relationship – meaning no payroll-tax issue and no audit risk for the employer.
2. Pickup: if the employee doesn't want to keep the equipment, onyo collects it free of charge, checks the condition and routes it to reuse.
In both cases: no extra effort for HR, no debates, no spreadsheets.
When DIY can still make sense
For very small teams (< 10 employees) with a stable, hardly-growing headcount, self-procurement can be pragmatic. The effort fits in alongside other tasks, the tax risk stays manageable.
As soon as a company grows, wants to standardise hybrid work or has frequent hiring/offboarding, the equation shifts towards a platform. The invisible costs – HR hours, service tickets, tax filings – make the difference.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if we gift the equipment to employees?
A gift is a payroll-taxable event. The fair value of the equipment counts as taxable benefit, including social contributions. What's meant as a gesture turns into a payroll task.
Can't we just sell the equipment to employees?
Yes – but: the residual value must be at market level, otherwise tax authorities may classify it as hidden gift. Valuation, contract and payment are manual work. onyo solves this by selling as a neutral third party at market price – without tax risk for the employer.
How does offboarding work with onyo concretely?
onyo contacts the employee directly. If they want to keep the equipment, they buy it at market price from onyo. If not, onyo picks it up free of charge. Your HR team is not in the process.
Is self-procurement worth it for small teams?
For < 10 employees and a stable team, DIY can work. As soon as you hire and offboard regularly, the platform clearly wins – through fewer HR hours and lower tax risk.
What does onyo cost compared to in-house procurement?
onyo averages around €25/month per employee – including delivery, assembly, service, compliance and recovery. In-house procurement looks cheaper but ignores HR effort and offboarding risk.
Ready for the future of work?
Let us show you in 30 minutes how onyo can relieve your company.