Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products online and get people to engage more with your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.
Adding an employee directory to your site can generate more trust, increase your online credibility and get interested prospects contacting you.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily add an easy-to-maintain simple faculty directory in WordPress using free plugins.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WP admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new entry will show up in the main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new staff members after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups settings …
(Groups section)
Note: Configuring directory groups works in the same way as configuring categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in a group description here
- Click Add New Group when finished to create a new category …
(Groups area)
If you run a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, 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 hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each item …
To change or reassign Groups for an item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The item’s details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select 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 …
(Add nested groups to your directory)
Once you are done setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings area opens up …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: You can change the slug for your staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in the person’s role
- Email: Type your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add 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 employees here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your staff member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
After you are done inputting details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …
Your new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added via Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit an 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 …
Click View Post …
You can modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Keep adding new members to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, just hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
If you have many employees added to this section, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate listing items if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which your employees display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added all of your staff details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that entries show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to a desired location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added member details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your employee directory listings 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 the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable 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 Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields display in the directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen provides a list of all different 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=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin plugin website and contact the plugin author.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to create a listing of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
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 go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
This plugin also lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
Learn more here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone number, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about the 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 Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to create an easy-to-update employee directory in your website.
Images used to depict fictitious 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