Business experts have successfully proven over time that people tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online? Then help visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.
Adding an employee directory to your website can help increase your credibility online and get more prospects considering using your services.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add an easy-to-update simple employee directory to WordPress with no coding skills required.
Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free WordPress plugin that lets you build a basic staff directory for.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings 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 installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new entry will be added to the main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin to add new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This loads the Groups settings …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Configuring directory groups is just like configuring categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Add a new group 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 – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in a category description here
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new group name …
(Groups screen)
If you are a business that employs many people, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each item …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected group details will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button 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 categories as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member area opens on your web browser …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Permalink: Here you can modify the permalink URL for each staff member if required (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s role
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
Once you have entered details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to 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 …
Your new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
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 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 modify your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Keep adding new members to your employee or faculty directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the directory items and their details …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to change an individual’s details, simply hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members profile)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find listing items …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which listings display on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added staff details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to a desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to edit the layout and style of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields show up in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your employee details will now display as as the example below shows …
(Staff profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use with this plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode 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=”Asia Pacific Region”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your main menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin support, go to the plugin website and contact the plugin author.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
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)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
This plugin lets you easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Company Directory, you can add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone, image and bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn 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.
Learn more about the plugin here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an individual member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
The Staffer plugin 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 site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details go here:
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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add a simple and easily updatable simple staff directory to your website using free plugins.
Models used to display 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