Category: WordPress Plugins

Business experts often raise the point that people will mostly buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site can help increase your credibility online and get more prospects to get in touch with you.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add an updatable simple employee directory in WordPress without coding skills.

How To Add An Employee List Directory: Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a free WordPress plugin that lets you easily display basic information to visitors about your employee on your website.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the WordPress admin and from the admin menu, click on 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 search results area.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will show up in your WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new staff members at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings up the Groups section …

(Groups screen)

Note: Setting up groups is similar to working with WordPress categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter 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 – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter your group description here (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up a new category …

(Groups area)

If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.

Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The category details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click the Update Group button when done …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type the employee’s name
• Slug: Modify your 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: The staff member’s position
• Email: Your employee’s email
• Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type your company’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 a profile description for your staff member here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …

(Staff directory fields)

After you have finished inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

A field for entering your group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …

A new group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your listing to the group …

(Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee’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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the admin toolbar , go here:

• The WordPress Dashboard Explained

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

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

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

• Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Keep adding new members to your employee directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your employees and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members table)

If you need to modify individual entries, just hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members info)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate items …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to create the style and layout of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings 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

In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your dashboard menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need additional information about this plugin, go to the Simple Staff List faq page and request help from the plugin author.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. For example, here are other plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

You can also set up custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin provides 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 Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Company Directory lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone number, photo and bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual member of your team in a four-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 source: Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

Staffer 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 employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

If the directory plugins listed above 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
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a simple and easily updatable simple employee directory to your site without coding skills.

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

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