Author: WP Compendium

It’s often said in marketing that people generally will buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to sell more products online, then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees or faculty members to your site can help let visitors learn more about the team working behind your business.

In this tutorial, we show you how to create and add an updatable simple employee directory in your web site using a free WP plugin.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you display information about your staff members on your website.

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will appear in the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin to add new employee entries at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your employees.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory groups go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings panel …

(Groups screen)

Note: Setting up groups is similar to creating WordPress categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in the group description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create the new group name …

(Groups section)

If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many categories and nested groups as you need 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 creating new items …

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

The category will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  after making 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)

After you are done setting up your groups, you can start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Permalink: Modify the slug for each employee if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your staff or faculty member here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign an employee or faculty member 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 of your staff member’s details …

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you are done entering your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group feature)

A field for entering your 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 Add New Group …

Your new group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign the employee’s details to the group …

(New group)

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

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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To make changes to the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:

• How To Use Your WordPress Dashboard

Note: If you get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have set up your site permalinks correctly …

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using WP permalinks here:

• Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your staff members and their details …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, just hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find a member if required …

(Search members)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which your staff members display on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added staff details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your staff entries appear on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired position …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added staff details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you edit the style and layout of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template …

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around 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 allowing you to customize your listing 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 – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations that you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

In the dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the dashboard menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List support page.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

This plugin lets you add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)

More info:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

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

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, photo and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just a 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.

Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer – WordPress 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
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and your team better.

Images of models used to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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