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No doubt you’ve heard that people tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products online or get people to interact more with your site, then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

If your site is powered by the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your staff members using a WordPress directory plugin.

This tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-manage staff directory to your WordPress site.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily staff.

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

Log into your administration and in your admin menu, click on 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 …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will be added to your main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin adding new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your directory categories. In your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings …

(Groups settings)

Note: Configuring groups is very similar to working with categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Type in 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 – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in your category description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create your new directory group …

(Groups screen)

If you are a medium to large organization, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for an individual item, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

Your selected category open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

To change your 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 group names as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter the staff member’s name
• Permalink: Here you can edit each staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your employees here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can 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 …

(Staff directory settings)

After you have entered each staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group link)

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 …

A new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the entry to the group …

(New group added via Groups section)

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

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

Click View Post …

You can make changes to your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Using Your WP Control Panel

Note: If you have set up groups and get errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site permalinks …

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add new details to your staff or member directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members table)

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

Click on Edit if you want to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate entries if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Staff Members 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 the Apply button when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that listings appear on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your employees display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to a desired location …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to edit the layout and style of your employee directory listings 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 main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Templates screen)

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

For example, here is the Default Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

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

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”partners”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin support page and request help from the plugin author.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to build a listing of your employees in WordPress. Here are other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Modern Team Staff Directory 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 go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

The plugin also lets you create custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This 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.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, photo and staff 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

Learn more about this plugin 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 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets which 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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 employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

More info:

• 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 Directory Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff or faculty directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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