Tag: Employee Directory WordPress

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

If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online, then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.

If you own a WordPress-driven site, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that lets you display a directory containing information about your key partners, your business team, or your employees.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to create and add an easy-to-update list directory of employees to your web site using free WP plugins.

How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To WordPress: Plugin Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you easily staff (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WP administration and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, 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  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will appear in your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings for your 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 employee directory, you can start adding new staff members at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourgroup members into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This loads the Groups settings area …

(Groups settings area)

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

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your category. 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 categories
4. Description – Type in a category description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new directory category …

(Groups settings)

If you manage a business that employs many people, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for an individual item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

The category open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group when done to save your 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 …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

After you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen opens up …

(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: The staff member’s name
• Slug: Modify the permalink URL for your staff member if you want (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type 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: You can assign an employee or team member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

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

(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 staff member’s details …

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you are done inputting details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your staff member to the group …

(New group)

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

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

If you need help using the admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• An Overview Of The WP Dashboard

Note: If you see errors like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get a page error)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using WordPress permalinks here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list displaying all the staff members and all details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members list)

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

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

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find member details if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

After adding your staff details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to the desired location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List lets you create the style and layout 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 the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, 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 This code displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory listings will now appear with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as shown below …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use.

For example, a useful 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=”technical engineers”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin faq page.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. For example, here are other free plugins you can look at for adding a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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 go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides 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.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, photo 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: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

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

This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

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 employee directory on your site …

(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.

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and your business better.

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

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