How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

Learn how to easily add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site with no coding skills required …

WordPress Plugin Staff DirectoryNo doubt you already know that people will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is help prospects get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website can help increase your credibility online and get interested prospects to request quotes or more information.

This tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory to WordPress.

How To Add A Staff Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you staff (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into the admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New

WordPress Plugins Menu - Add New

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins screen, 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

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

Activate plugin

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will appear on the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members

Staff Members

(Staff Members menu)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups

Staff Members - Groups

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups screen …

Groups screen

(Groups settings screen)

Useful Tip

Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories …

Groups work like WordPress categories

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

  1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
  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 – Type in your category description here
  5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new group name …

Groups settings screen

(Groups section)

If you work with a business that employs many people, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, departments, etc.

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

Nested groups

(Nested groups)

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

Add New Group button

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

Editing Simple Staff List Groups

The selected item’s details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

Edit Group screen

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

Update Groups

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

Group slug - Quick Edit

Click on Update Group  after making changes …

Simple Staff List Update button

Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …

adding categories to your directory

Add as many nested groups as you like …

nested groups

(Nested categories)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New

Staff Members Menu - Add New

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

Add New Staff Member screen

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

  • Name: The employee’s name
  • Permalink: Modify each employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

  • Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

  • Position: The staff member’s position
  • Email: Add the staff member’s email address
  • Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
  • Facebook URL: Type in your employee’s Facebook address (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: Type in a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered 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 your groups).

Tip

Click on the Screen Options tab …

Screen options tab

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

Enable additional fields in screen options

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

Add Staff Member fields

(Add Staff Member settings)

Once you are done entering each of you staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …

Groups section

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group

Groups - + Add New Group feature

(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. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group

Groups box

The new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

New group added via Groups feature

(New group)

Info

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit an 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 filling in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …

Publish your staff directory details

Click View Post

View your staff directory details

You can update the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

Edit Staff Member link - admin toolbar

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

Useful Tip

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

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

'page not found' errors

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

We have written a detailed tutorial on using WordPress permalinks here:

Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

Staff Members Menu - All Staff Members

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

Staff Members details table

(Staff Members table)

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

Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View

Editing Staff Members details

(Edit Staff Members details)

If you have added many names to this section, your list can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find listing items if required …

Search Staff Members search box

(Search members)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options

Staff Members Screen Options

(Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …

Staff Members Screen Options tab

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

Staff Members - Order

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

Reorder listings using drag and drop

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

Reordered listings

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added member details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that entries display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

Staff Members Menu - Order

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to a new position …

Reorder items using drag and drop

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

Reordered list items

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you create the layout and style 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 the menu …

Staff Members - Templates

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

Customize your directory template

(Templates screen)

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

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

Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …

Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing

(Default Template Listing)

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

Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

Directory listings with social media links

(Staff profiles with social media URLs added)

Info

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

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

In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage

Staff Members Menu - Usage

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

Simple Staff List - Usage shortcodes

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to your page to display a list of staff members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”technical engineers”])

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 menu …

Staff Members - Options

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options page …

Options settings

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

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

Export Staff Members plugin info

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List site.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your team members. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out to create an employee directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

Modern Team Staff Directory - WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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 - Plugin For WordPress

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)

More info:

Staff Directory

Staff Directory - WordPress Plugin

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

This plugin lets you insert custom fields …

Staff Directory - WordPress Plugin

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Learn more here:

Faculty And Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory - Plugin For WordPress

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

Company Directory

Company Directory - WP Plugin

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, plus as fields like 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 members in an easy to view format

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

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

Employee Spotlight

Employee Spotlight - Plugin For WordPress

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one 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.

Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and 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

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

More info:

Staffer

Staffer - Plugin For WordPress

(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 online employee directory …

Staffer archive page

(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.

More info:

Practical Tip

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff or faculty directory to your WordPress site without editing code, so your web visitors can get to know your company better.

WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Images of persons used to display sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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