Author: WP Compendium

No doubt you already know that people tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for cost-effective ways to grow your business online, then help prospects get to know you and your organization better.

If you run a WordPress-powered website, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your employees using a directory plugin.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to add a simple and easy-to-update list directory of staff members in your website using free plugins.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you display basic information to visitors about your staff on your site.

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, 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  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will be added to the main WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

Here is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just begin adding new employee details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual group members.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups settings area …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up groups works just like categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. 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 categories
4. Description – Type in your category description
5. Click Add New Group when done to create the new directory category …

(Groups settings)

If you manage a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for a specific entry, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

Continue adding group names in this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your staff directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

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

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The staff member’s name
• Permalink: Here you can edit each employees’ slug (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s role
• Email: Enter your staff member’s email here
• Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type your company’s Twitter username here (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 formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

Once you have entered details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your staff member to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. 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 entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Your WordPress Dashboard Explained

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

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this tutorial:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO Using Permalinks

Continue adding more entries to your staff directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details)

If you need to modify individual entries, hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members details)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate entries if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown 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 that listings show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its new location …

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List allows you to edit the style and layout of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Templates page)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

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

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

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

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”technical engineers”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Options settings screen)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members info)

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

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a faculty directory in WordPress. Here are a few other free plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP 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 churches, teams, etc.

The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide 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.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, 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 learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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 upon plugin activation.

With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This 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 online staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staffer

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 List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-maintain directory of staff members to your WordPress site using a free plugin.

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

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