Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know you and your business better.
If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a WordPress directory plugin that lets you display a directory containing information about your key people, your faculty, or your employees.
This tutorial will show you how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff members in your website.
Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily staff (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will appear on your main WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin adding new employee details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your directory groups. In your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups screen …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Setting up groups works in the same way as adding categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the slug of your category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up nested categories
- Description – Enter your category description
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new group name …
(Groups section)
If you work with a larger organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, departments, 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 groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item’s details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Slug: You can change the permalink URL associated with each employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in the person’s position here
- Email: Enter the staff member’s email address into this field
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter the person’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 staff member here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign a staff or faculty member to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down 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 …
The new directory category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added via Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an individual’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
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After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can modify your employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If you see a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get an error)
For a detailed tutorial about setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Continue adding more details to your staff or partner directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to edit individual details, just hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find member details if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which entries appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that entries appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you create the layout and style of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(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 used for displaying listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields appear in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff entries will now display as shown in the example below …
(Staff profiles with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations you can use.
A useful shortcode variation you can add, for example, to display a list of employees or team members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need specific help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List faq page and contact the plugin developer.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. Here are a few other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Modern Team Staff Directory 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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, pic and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders 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 upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more about the plugin here:
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.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and the people in your company better.
Models used to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie