You are able to hide the chat and contact list icon for individual employee groups.
Navigate to Settings -> Chat in the administration area. Here you will find the settings Hide chat icon and Hide contact list icon.
Select the desired groups for which to hide the icon for.
After you have changed one of the settings mentioned above, it takes a few minutes for the setting to take effect. After that, the respective icon will no longer be displayed for the employees of the selected group.
Please wait... it will take a second!