Author: WP Compendium

It’s often said in business circles that people generally tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for ways to sell more products or services online and get people to interact more with your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding an employee directory to your website can help boost your online credibility and get more prospects to send you enquiries for quotes or more information.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to easily create and add an updatable simple team members directory to your website without coding skills.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory To Your Site

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you staff members.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the WP administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin adding new employee details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign youremployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your categories go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings)

Note: Adding groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter a group description here
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new group name …

(Groups area)

If you manage a medium to large organization, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To change or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  to save your changes …

Add as many group names as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The staff member’s name
• Permalink: You can edit the permalink URL for your staff member if required (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employee here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

Once you are done entering each staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group)

A field for creating your group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an individual to the group …

(New group)

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

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

Click View Post …

You can edit the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• How To Navigate Inside The WP Control Panel

Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:

• Changing WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding new members to your staff directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you have added staff details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the directory items and all details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to make changes to individual details, hover over their name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find items …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which entries show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its desired position …

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added all of your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which entries display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to the desired position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to 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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The This code displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory listings will now display as as shown below …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.

For example, a useful variation you can select to display a list of employees or faculty members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin plugin site and contact the plugin developer.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your team members in WordPress. For example, here are some other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Modern Team Staff Directory 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 about the plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.

The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, image and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

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

This plugin includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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

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

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Staffer 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 employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

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

• Add Staff Directory To WordPress
• WordPress Staff Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage simple faculty directory in your website using a free plugin.

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

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