Do managers have a responsibility to manage their team's chat and instant messages as records?

Yes. Managers generally share responsibility for ensuring that their team’s chat and instant messages are captured, retained, and managed when those communications qualify as records. The format does not change the obligation: what matters is content and function, not whether a message arrives by letter, email, or a chat platform.

Why Chat Counts as a Record

A record is information created or received in the course of business that documents an activity, decision, or transaction and has value as evidence. If a chat thread approves a purchase, assigns work, sets policy, or otherwise documents official business, it can meet that definition. Casual, transitory messages, such as “running five minutes late,” usually do not. The challenge is that chat platforms blend both kinds of content in the same stream, so someone has to apply judgment.

The Manager’s Role

Managers typically are not the records management program, but they are accountable for how their team operates. Common responsibilities include:

• Modeling good practice. Conduct substantive business in approved, capturable channels rather than ephemeral side conversations.
• Recognizing record content. Help staff distinguish messages that document decisions from routine chatter.
• Ensuring capture and retention. Confirm that record-quality messages are preserved according to the applicable retention schedule and are not deleted prematurely or through auto-expiration settings.
• Reinforcing policy. Direct staff to organizational guidance and discourage moving official business onto personal or unmonitored apps.

Recognized standards frame recordkeeping as a shared, role-based responsibility embedded in normal operations, with management providing oversight and resources rather than treating it as an afterthought.

Why It Matters

Chat records may be subject to discovery, audits, public-records or freedom-of-information requests, and internal investigations. If relevant messages were never captured or were destroyed early, the organization can face legal exposure, regulatory findings, and loss of institutional memory. Managers who treat chat as “off the record” create risk for the whole team.

Practical Takeaway

Treat chat and instant messaging like any other communication channel: know which messages are records, ensure those are captured and retained on schedule, and follow your organization’s policy. When in doubt, preserve and ask your records officer.

For more on managing modern communications, see the email and messaging topic hub.