You have no doubt heard that people generally will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
Adding a staff directory to your site can lead to increased trust, boost your credibility online and get interested prospects to contact you.
This tutorial explains how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of employees to WordPress.
How To Add An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you staff.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will display on your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start to add new employee details at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups settings screen …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Setting up directory groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Type in the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Enter a category description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new directory group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you work with a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different 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 build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change or reassign Groups for a specific item, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected group details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Continue adding groups to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Slug: Edit the permalink URL for each staff member if required (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the staff member’s position here
- Email: The staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the person 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 …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional page settings …
(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 inputting details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
A field for entering a new group name will appear, 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 …
The new group will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an individual’s details. 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar, see this tutorial:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your staff or partner directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list displaying all your staff profiles and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the 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.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate listing items if required …
(Search members)
You can 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 tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
After adding your 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 specify the order that listings appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to a desired location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …
(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 appear in your directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff entries will now display as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory listings with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, 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=”property managers”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members details by going to your main menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need additional information about the plugin, go to the Simple Staff List plugin website.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. Here are a few other free plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
This plugin also lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
This plugin provides 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 a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
The Company Directory plugin lets you add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone, pic and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
The Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
If the directory plugins listed above 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know your organization better.
Images used to display staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum