Category: Management Plugins

Business experts have successfully shown over the years that people often tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online or get people to engage more on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know you and your organization better.

If you have a WordPress-driven website, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a WordPress directory plugin that will let you add a directory listing with information about your key partners, your business team, or your employees.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory in your WordPress site.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add A Staff List Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily employee.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your WP dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu will have been added to your main WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can begin to add new staff details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your categories. In your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups area …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Adding groups works in the same way as configuring categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group 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 – Enter the category description here (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group name …

(Groups screen)

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

Create as many groups and nested categories 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 on the Add New Group button after entering new items …

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

The item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

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 when done to save your changes …

Add as many groups 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 groups, you can begin adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: Here you can modify the slug for each employee if required (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

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

Groups Section (5)

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

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 your employee’s details …

(Staff directory fields)

Once you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group link)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new group will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. 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 typing in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

To update your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Dashboard Explained

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:

• How To Set Up Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your directory entries and their details …

(Staff Members details)

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

Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

If you have many entries, your table can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find listing items …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that entries appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

After adding your staff details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to create the layout and style of your staff directory listings 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 your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

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

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode section)

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

A useful variation you can choose, 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=”sales trainers”])

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

Options Menu

In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin site.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create an employee directory in WordPress. For example, here are other free plugins you can use for adding an employee directory on your website:

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress 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 includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, image and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to 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: plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

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

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and 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 circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer)

The Staffer plugin 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 online staff directory …

(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 go here:

• Staffer – WordPress Plugin

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

Images used to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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