Tag: Employee Directory WordPress

No doubt you already know that people tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ways 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 your business better.

Adding a faculty member directory to your site can help boost your online credibility and get interested prospects contacting you.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to easily create and add an updatable simple team members directory in your WordPress site.

Adding A Staff 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 Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily display information to visitors about your staff members on your site.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the administration and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, a new entry will be added to your WordPress menu bar 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.

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just begin adding new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your categories. From your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings area …

(Groups settings)

Note: Configuring directory groups is similar to working with categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
4. Description – Type in a group description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new group name …

(Groups settings area)

If you are a larger organization, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To change or reassign Groups for a specific entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

Your selected item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click on 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 categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member area)

This area provides you with 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
• Permalink: Edit each staff members’ slug (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: Type the staff member’s role
• Email: Type the person’s email address into this field
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the person’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. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

After you have finished entering details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding 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 will appear 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 added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing a person’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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

Click View Post …

You can make changes to your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• The WP Control Panel Explained

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

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

To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Configuring WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding more members to your directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your directory items and the details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members details)

If you have added many names to this section, your list can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items if necessary …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding all of your staff listing details to your 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 that allows you to set the order in which entries display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to its desired position …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding all members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your 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 your menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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 …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The This code displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

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

Your employee details will now display as as shown below …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

A useful variation you can add, for example, 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”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in the main menu …

(Staff Members – 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 details by going to your menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

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

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(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 – Responsive Templates)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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, teams, etc.

You can also create custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP 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 profiles in a widget area.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, photo 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

More info:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon 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 screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Staffer uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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