It’s often said in business and marketing that people tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for cost-effective ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site, then help visitors get to know your organization better.
If you use WordPress, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a WordPress directory plugin that will let you display information about your key people, your faculty, or your employees.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff to your website.
How To Easily Add An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily create a basic staff directory for.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WP administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will display on your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just start adding new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualemployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by configuring your directory categories. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups panel opens up …
(Groups screen)
Note: Configuring groups works in the same way as adding categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in your category description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to set up a new directory category …
(Groups settings screen)
If you manage a medium to large organization, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, departments, 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 hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The category details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
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 …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This opens up the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add the employee’s name
- Permalink: You can edit the permalink URL associated with each employee if required (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in your staff member’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook URL here (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: Add a profile description for your staff members here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your employee to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating a new group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
A new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit a group entry, 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your staff directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to your employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from the staff 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 list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate listing items …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members 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 finished to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that your employee profiles appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
After adding all member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to a new location …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin 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 employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, 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 directory listings …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your staff profiles will now appear with Facebook and Twitter addresses as shown in the screenshot below …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure 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 allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])
Or, you can display listings 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 brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List plugin site and contact the plugin author.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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 – Responsive Templates)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email address, 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners 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 on plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
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 source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more about this plugin here:
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 Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add a simple and easily updatable list of staff members to your site without coding skills.
Models used to display staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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