Something that is generally well known in business circles, is that people generally tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to sell more products online? Then something you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
If your website runs on the WordPress CMS platform, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to use a WordPress directory plugin that lets you display information about your key partners, your faculty, or your staff.
In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to add an easy-to-manage directory of staff or faculty members to your website with no coding skills required.
Adding An Employee List Directory: Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily create a simple staff directory list for.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will appear in the main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just start adding new employee entries at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This loads the Groups section …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding directory groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- 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.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
- Description – Enter your group description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create a new group …
(Groups settings)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, developers, 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 build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done …
Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Permalink: Here you can edit the slug for your employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s position
- Email: Add the person’s email address here
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the employee’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username into this field (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 employee here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or faculty member 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 at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
Once you have entered details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field will appear 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 group and click on Add New Group …
The new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(Groups section)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can modify the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using the WordPress admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have configured your site permalinks correctly …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new details to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished adding staff members into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the directory items and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to modify an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members profile)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate items …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which your employee listings display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added all of your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which your employees appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your staff details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you create the layout and style of your staff list listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members – 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 a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields display in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff entries will now display as as the example below shows …
(Directory with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as 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 main admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use with this plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to 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=”Asia Pacific Region”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members info by going to your WP admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin author.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can look at for adding an employee 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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
The plugin also lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
For more details go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone number, 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 read 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 uses simple shortcodes.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of employees to your site.
Images used to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum