Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally will buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for ways to grow your business online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.
If you use WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff using a staff list plugin.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to add a simple and easy-to-update simple employee directory to WordPress without messing around with code.
Adding A Staff Directory In WordPress: Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily display basic information about your staff members on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your administration and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(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 display on the WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin to add new staff members after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff members.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings panel …
(Groups section)
Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as configuring WordPress categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter the group description in this field
- Click Add New Group when done to create a new category …
(Groups settings area)
If you are a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, 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 build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected item’s details will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To change your 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 group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(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
- Permalink: You can change the slug associated with each staff member if required (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s role
- Email: Add the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type your company’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff member here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or faculty member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options tab)
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 …
(Add Staff Member fields)
Once you are done inputting details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field for creating a group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’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 the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)
If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to add more details to your staff or partner directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the staff profiles and all details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile details)
If you have many employees, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find member details if necessary …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee listings display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your employee profiles display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin allows you to edit the layout and style of your staff directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields show in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your employee details will now display Facebook and Twitter addresses as as shown below …
(Staff profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are not sure 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 listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use with this plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can insert in 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=”partners”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to your main menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need any help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin website.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your team members in WordPress. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out for creating a directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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 a profile in a widget area.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, pic 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 learn 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 also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just a single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
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 onsite employee directory …
(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.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
If the above plugins 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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add a list of staff members in in WordPress without editing code.
Images used to portray sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group