Tag: Company Directory

Something that is often quoted in business and marketing circles, is that people will mostly buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to grow your business online? Then help visitors get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

If you use WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your business team, or your employees using a staff list plugin.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to easily add an easy-to-maintain list of staff members to your WordPress site with no coding skills required.

How To Add An Employee List Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List lets you create a simple staff directory for.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into your dashboard and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu entry will appear in the WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

Here is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could just begin to add new entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups screen …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Setting up groups works in the same way as configuring categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter the group description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create the new directory category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you run a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …

To edit Groups for a specific item, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …

Click the Update Group button to save your changes …

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 have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to begin 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 loads the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your employee’s name
• Permalink: You can change your employees’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

After you have entered details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …

The new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the employee’s details to the group …

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering your team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• Your WP Dashboard Explained

Note: If an error like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks, see this tutorial:

• Configuring WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding new entries to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the directory items and their details …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate items if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that entries appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding all staff details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which your employee listings show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its new position …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List allows you to edit the layout and style of your directory items 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 menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Your employee entries will now display Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the screenshot below …

(Directory with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations you can use.

A useful variation you can decide to use, 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=”Gold Level associates”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin support page and request help from the plugin developer.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:

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 go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.

You can also set up custom fields …

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress 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.

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like title, email, phone, image 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 read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each staff member 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 – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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 online staff directory …

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

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an updatable directory of employees in your web site using free WP plugins.

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

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