Tag: Employee Directory WordPress

It’s often said in business and marketing that people generally tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know you and your business better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site can help personalize your business.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create and add an easy-to-update staff directory to your WordPress site.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into the dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will appear on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just begin to add new staff entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups screen …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Configuring directory groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …

(Groups work just 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 group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section to set up nested groups
4. Description – Type in the group description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new group …

(Groups area)

If you work with a larger organization, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, developers, departments, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit Groups for a particular item, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The selected category details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

Add as many group names as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your directory structure, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Slug: Edit the slug associated with your employee if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign an employee or team member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

Once you have finished entering details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(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 that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …

A new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the employee’s details to the group …

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit a group 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar here:

• Your WordPress Administration Section – A Tutorial

Note: If a page error shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

If you need help setting up WP permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished adding staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your employees and all details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

If you have many employees, your table can grow quite large.

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

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a 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 the Apply button when done to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that your employee profiles display on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding your member details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which your employees display on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the desired location …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to create the layout and style of your directory items 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 Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowed 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 Template)

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

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with CSS code and template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.

A useful shortcode variation you can add, for example, to display a list of individuals belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])

You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need any help with this plugin, go to the plugin faq page and contact the plugin developer.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create a listing of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can check out for adding a staff directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also use custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin 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 profiles in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone, image and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just a 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 plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer)

Staffer 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 website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: 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 – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a simple and easily updatable simple staff directory to your website using a free plugin.

Images of models used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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