How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

No doubt you’ve already heard that people generally buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for simple ways to sell more products or services online and get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help visitors get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

If your website uses the WordPress Content Management System, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that will let you add a directory containing information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create an easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in your WordPress site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you staff (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into the dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will have been added to your main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new employee entries at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your directory groups. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings up the Groups settings screen …

(Groups screen)

Note: Adding groups is just like configuring categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter the category description
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up a new directory category …

(Groups section)

If you are a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …

To edit or reassign Groups for an individual item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected category will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …

Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …

Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Here you can edit your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s position
• Email: The employee’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter your company’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

After you are done inputting your staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for creating a group name will display, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a list entry to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …

Click View Post …

You can update the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:

• Your WordPress Control Panel – A Tutorial

Note: If errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have set up your permalinks correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)

If you need help setting up permalinks, see this tutorial:

• Changing WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding more members to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done entering staff details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to modify an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile information)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate member details if necessary …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that entries show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its new location …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that your employees show on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its new location …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin also lets you create the layout and style of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, below is the Default Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

A useful variation you can choose, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”partners”])

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options settings screen)

Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

You can also export your staff members info by going to your WP admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin faq page.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can check out to create an employee directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)

Go here to learn more:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.

The plugin lets you insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, image and bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

More info:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an online staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

More info:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

If the directory plugins listed above aren’t what you’re looking for, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:

• Add Staff Directory To WordPress
• WordPress Staff List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add a simple and easy-to-update simple faculty members directory in your site using free WP plugins.

Images used in this tutorial to depict fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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