Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people will buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker and easier ways to grow your business online, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
If your site is powered by the WordPress CMS platform, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your business team, or your employees using a WordPress staff list plugin.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory in your site.
Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you employee.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your admin and in your admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new menu will appear in your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could start adding new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This opens up the Groups screen …
(Groups section)
Note: Configuring groups works just like categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in your group description here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create a new group name …
(Groups settings screen)
If you work with a business that employs many people, having the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The group open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your directory)
After you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Permalink: Here you can edit your staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the staff member’s role into this field
- Email: Add the person’s email
- Phone Number: Enter the staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the individual to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
Once you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
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. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new group will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing a staff or faculty member’s details. 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 the person’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 the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If an error like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have correctly set up your site’s permalinks …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to add new members to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee or team members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to modify individual details, hover over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find items if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search box)
You can specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which entries show on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
After adding your staff details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your employee listings appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
After adding all employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.
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 layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The This code will display your listing as 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 appear in your directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your directory should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that you can use with the plugin.
For example, a useful 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=”senior staff”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your main admin menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List site.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are some other free plugins you can use to add an employee directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
Learn more 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, schools, etc.
The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
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 installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, photo and member 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 employee directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory 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 of persons used in this tutorial to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group