Consumer buying habits show that people will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for simple ways to sell more products or services online, then make it easier for your visitors to get to know you and your organization better.
Adding a directory of staff to your website can help to generate greater trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects to consider using your services.
This tutorial shows you how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of employees in your website.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory In WordPress
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you staff members (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will show up in the main WP menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could start adding new employee entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your categories. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups section …
(Groups area)
Note: Setting up groups works in the same way as configuring WordPress categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group 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 categories
- Description – Enter the group description here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create a new group …
(Groups area)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, project teams, 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 assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected group will display 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 change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group after making changes …
Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This section provides you with 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: Here you can change the slug associated with each employee if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in the person’s role into this field
- Email: Enter the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your staff member’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 staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: 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 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 New Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for entering your 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 …
A new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your entry to the group …
(Groups section)
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 above for details).
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After entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
You can modify the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If you get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get a page error)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:
Keep adding more entries to your employee or team directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have added employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your staff profiles and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change individual entries, just hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members info)
If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries if required …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
After adding all employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that your staff members appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to a desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you customize the style and layout of your staff list 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 main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your listings page will now look like …
(Staff profiles with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as 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 – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can choose, for example, to display a list of individuals belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on the main menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the WP admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin support page.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your employees. For example, here are some other plugins you can use for creating a directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
This 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:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
This plugin lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin 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, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone number, photo and staff 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 sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes 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 staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about the plugin go 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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site without editing code, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of persons used to display sample staff members in this tutorial 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