Tag: Employee Directory WordPress

Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for ideas to sell more products or services online, then help visitors get to know your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees or faculty members to your site can help let visitors learn more about the people working behind your business.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to add an updatable list of employees in your website with no coding skills required.

How To Add A Staff List Directory In WordPress

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you staff members.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WP administration and from the admin menu section, click on 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 plugin search results.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, a new entry will be added to the WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start to add new employee details after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory categories go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups panel …

(Groups section)

Note: Setting up groups is very similar to creating categories …

(Groups work just like categories)

Create a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group. 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 categories
4. Description – Type in your group description here (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new group name …

(Groups settings)

If you manage a business that employs many people, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, developers, departments, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click the Update Group button when done …

Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: Edit your staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Add the person’s role
• Email: Your employee’s email address
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter the staff member’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employee here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

Once you are done inputting each staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for creating a group name will appear, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

A new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group added in Groups feature)

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 filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

To update your employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Control Area Explained

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

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

If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:

• Setting Up Your WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding new details to your employee or partner directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding staff or faculty members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the directory items and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

If you have many names to add, your table can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries if required …

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

(Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries show on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to a new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles 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 section)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that you can use.

A useful shortcode variation you can choose, 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=”sales managers”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options screen)

This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

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

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are some other plugins you can use to add a staff directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

This plugin lets you create custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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 profiles in a widget area.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone number, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to 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 sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

Detailed information about  each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 an online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

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

For more details go here:

• Staffer

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
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff or faculty directory to your WordPress site, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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