Tag: Simple Staff List Plugin

Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people will buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for ways to grow your business online or get people to engage more on your site, then help your visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If your website uses WordPress, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that will let you add information about your partners, your faculty, or your employees.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add a simple employee directory in your web site.

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

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you display basic information about your staff on your site.

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

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will be added to your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just begin adding new employee entries at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your directory groups. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This loads the Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Adding groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in the category description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create a new group …

(Groups settings area)

If you manage a larger organization, the ability to set up different categories 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 build a hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done 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 …

(Add nested groups to your staff directory)

Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, the next step is to start adding names 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 area …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: Change each staff members’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s position
• Email: The employee’s email address
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add your employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter your company’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employees here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign an employee or team member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial 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 tab)

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

(Staff directory fields)

After you have entered details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for entering your new group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an individual to the group …

(Groups box)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit an item, 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 directory …

Click View Post …

To update the staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• How To Use The WP Control Screen

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list of all your staff profiles and the details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to change an individual’s entry, hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

If you have many employees, your list can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate entries if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that entries display on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in the WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to a new location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you edit the layout and style of your staff directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory, reorganize 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 listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Template Listing)

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

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

Your employee details will now display as shown in the example below …

(Directory listings 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

As well as being able 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 opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to the WP admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin support page and request help from the plugin developer.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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)

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.

You can also use custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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 a profile in a widget area.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With Company Directory, you can add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, pic 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 shortcodes.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you 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 team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Staffer 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 online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

Go here to learn more:

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff in your web site.

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

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