Category: Management Plugins

Business experts have successfully demonstrated that people generally buy from those they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know you and your organization better.

If you own a WordPress-powered site, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a WordPress staff list plugin that lets you add information about your partners, your faculty, or your employees.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain employee directory to your web 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 WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into your WP dashboard and navigate to 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 search results area.

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will have been added to the main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could start to add new staff entries at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign youremployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your groups. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups settings opens on your browser …

(Groups section)

Note: Adding directory groups works just like categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group 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 groups
4. Description – Type in your category description here (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up the new group name …

(Groups settings area)

If you work with a larger organization, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, departments, 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 hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

To change Groups for a specific item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

The item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you are done setting up your directory structure, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member settings area in your browser …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Slug: Modify each employees’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign your staff member to a specific group (see above 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 Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, 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 Add New Group …

A new group will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign an individual to the group …

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an individual’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

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

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using the WordPress admin toolbar here:

• The WP Dashboard – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

Note: If you have set up groups and get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO Using Permalinks

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering 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 listing all the staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

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

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

(Edit Staff Members profile)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member if required …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. 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 listed per page. Click Apply 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 that your staff entries appear on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which your employee profiles appear on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you 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 the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with editing 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 allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

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=”property managers”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need help with the plugin, visit the Simple Staff List site and request help from the plugin developer.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your team members in WordPress. Here are other free plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This 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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

This plugin lets you set up custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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 installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

Company Directory lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, photo and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 plugin website)

This plugin uses shortcodes.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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 plugin website)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 an employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

Learn more here:

• Staffer – WP 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 Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site without touching code, so your site visitors can get to know your organization better.

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

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