Tag: Employee Directory WordPress

You have no doubt heard that people will mostly buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to grow your business online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If you use WordPress, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your staff using a staff list plugin.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to add a simple and easily updatable list of employees to your web site using free WP plugins.

Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress 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 WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WordPress admin and navigate 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 …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will be added to the main WP menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start to add new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your categories go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups panel …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Setting up directory groups is very similar to working with WordPress categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group. 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 category description here (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up your new directory category …

(Groups settings area)

If you work with a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, 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 assign these to a hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

To change or reassign Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The 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 when done …

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

Click Update Group to save your changes …

Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: Change the slug for each employee if you want (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type in the staff member’s role
• Email: The employee’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in the staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in your staff member’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add 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 employee here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory fields)

After you are done entering each of you staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group)

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

A new group will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(Groups box)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing employee details. To edit an 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can edit the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Using The WordPress Control Page

Note: If ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

To learn more about setting up permalinks, refer to this tutorial:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO Using Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add more details to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list displaying all the directory entries and details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details)

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

Click on Edit to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.

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

(Search Staff Members search box)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which your employee listings appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new position …

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added member details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The The code shown above will display your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

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

Your directory profiles will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the example below shows …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

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

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can select to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to your menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List site and contact the plugin author.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are some other free plugins you can check out to add a staff directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

This plugin also lets you set up custom fields …

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

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

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 profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, image and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners 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.

With Employee Spotlight, 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 faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer)

This plugin 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 online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

Staffer works immediately with many popular 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, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:

• Add Staff Directory To WordPress
• WordPress Staff Directory Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create a simple and easy-to-maintain staff directory in your WordPress site.

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

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