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It’s often said in business circles that people will mostly buy from people they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to grow your business online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site is a great way to let visitors learn more about the people working behind your business.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-manage employee directory to WordPress.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

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

(WordPress 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 Install Now …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will be added to your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just begin adding new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualgroup members into.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups panel …

(Groups settings)

Note: Setting up groups is similar to working with categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version 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 nested categories
4. Description – Enter your category description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up the new group name …

(Groups area)

If you run a medium to large organization, having the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, project teams, departments, etc.

Create as many categories and nested categories as you want 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 item …

To change or reassign Groups for specific items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

Your selected group open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: You can modify the slug for each staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign an employee or faculty member to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(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 staff member’s details …

(Staff directory settings)

Once you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

Your new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your employee’s details to the group …

(Groups section)

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

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• The WordPress Admin Screen – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

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

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done entering staff or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate items …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on the WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding all members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that entries show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the desired position …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all members’ details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The This code will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses 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, as shown below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure what to do, 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 staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your WordPress admin menu, click on 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 that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page 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=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin support page and request help from the plugin developer.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can use for creating a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

You can also use custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)

More info:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

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

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, pic and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

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

This plugin uses shortcodes.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

This 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 a staff directory on your website …

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

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-maintain list directory of staff or faculty members to your website without editing code.

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

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