Disable "out of office" message

Hello. I've seen that in the past it was possible to hide/disable the "out of office" messages in group chats and private chats. The one I'm thinking of is that purple bar that is located just above where you type your messge. We have co-workers that are away for long periods of times, and to see that message all the time is quite frustating. Is there any sulotion to this problem? And no, I do not want to remove that member from the chat.