Tag: Simple Staff List Template

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

Are you searching for simple ways to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for your prospects to get to know your organization better.

If your site uses the WordPress Content Management System, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your team, or your staff members using a WordPress staff list plugin.

This tutorial will show you how to create an easy-to-manage employee directory in your website.

WordPress Plugin 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

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily display information about your staff on your website.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into the dashboard and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will display on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start to add new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your group members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your groups. In your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings area …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Adding directory groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

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

(Groups settings screen)

If you work with a business that employs many people, having the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, project teams, departments, etc.

Create as many groups and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …

To change or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

The item will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

Continue adding groups in 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 directory structure, you can start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your staff member’s name
• Permalink: You can modify your employees’ slug (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s position
• Email: Your employee’s email
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username (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 here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

Once you have finished inputting each staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …

Your new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your listing to the group …

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing a person’s 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …

Click View Post …

To make changes to the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the admin toolbar , go here:

• How To Navigate Inside Your WordPress Dashboard

Note: If you have set up groups and get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up permalinks, go here:

• How To Set Up WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add new details to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the staff profiles and details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find entries if necessary …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that listings display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to the desired position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that your employee profiles appear on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The 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 style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed 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 Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields display in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations you can use.

For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options settings)

Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin plugin site and contact the plugin developer.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are 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)

Go here to learn more:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also add custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory

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, school or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

This plugin lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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: plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets that let you 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: Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This 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 an online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer

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
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-maintain simple faculty members directory to your website with no coding skills required.

Models used in this tutorial to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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