Many business experts often raise the point that people often tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to grow your business online, then help prospects get to know, like and trust your business better.
If you run a WordPress-powered site, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff members using a WordPress staff list plugin.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to easily add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of employees in WordPress with no coding skills required.
How To Add An Employee Directory To WordPress
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you easily staff members.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into the administration and in your admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu will display on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
This menu is where you will manage and configure 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 begin adding new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This opens up the Groups section in your browser …
(Groups area)
Note: Setting up directory groups is similar to working with categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
- Description – Type in your group description
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new directory category …
(Groups section)
If you run a larger organization, having the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you want 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 each new item …
To change or reassign Groups for an entry, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The category details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category 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 choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done …
Continue adding categories to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
After you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter your staff member’s name
- Slug: Edit the slug associated with each employee if required (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Add your employee’s email
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your staff member’s Twitter username (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. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the individual to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
Once you are done inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for entering a group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new group will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an entry to the group …
(New group added)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your staff directory …
Click View Post …
To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks in WordPress here:
Continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding employees into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to modify an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing 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 feature to find listing items …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(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 shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which your employee listings appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
After adding your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which entries show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added member details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to customize the style and layout of your employee 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 brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, 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)
Here is what your listings page should now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with editing code 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 listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations you can use.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members details by going to your WordPress admin menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin faq page and contact the plugin author.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are a few other plugins you can check out for adding an employee directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
This plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone number, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 also uses simple shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just a 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.
Employee Spotlight comes with 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP 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 a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more here:
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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to add an easy-to-maintain directory of staff to your WordPress site.
Images of persons used to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum