Author: WP Compendium

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

Are you looking for simple ways to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust your business better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website can generate more trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects buying from your site.

In this tutorial, we explain how to easily create and add a list directory of employees in WordPress without editing code.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily display basic information about your employee on your site.

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 panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will display on the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin to add new staff members after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your groups. In your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups section …

(Groups area)

Note: Adding directory groups is just like adding categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in your group description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new directory category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different categories 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 need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating each new item …

To edit or reassign Groups for a particular item, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group when done …

Continue adding categories in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can start to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member area)

This page provides 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
• Slug: Here you can change the slug for your employee if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type in the employee’s position here
• Email: Add the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username into this field (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. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member 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 at the top of the screen …

(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 your staff member’s details …

(Add Staff Member settings)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown 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 category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a person to the group …

(Groups section)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

***

After filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Admin Area Explained

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:

• How To Configure Your WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding new details to your employee directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and any details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details table)

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

Click on Edit to update their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate items …

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the new location …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding all employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that your employees appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your staff directory entries 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 main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

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

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

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

In your dashboard menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful variation you can decide to use, 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=”property managers”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your main menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin website.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can check out for adding an employee directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The plugin lets you set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

More info:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

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

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

This plugin lets you add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, image and staff 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 source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

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

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

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

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

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

More info:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

If the above plugins 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
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to create a simple and easy-to-update employee directory in your WordPress site.

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

***