Tag: Staff List

You have no doubt heard that people generally will buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your business better.

If your site is driven by the WordPress CMS platform, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a WordPress directory plugin that will let you add a directory listing with information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff.

In this tutorial, we show you how to easily create and add a list directory of employees or team members in your web site using free plugins.

Adding An Employee Directory In WordPress

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you staff.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into your dashboard and in your admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

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 will appear on the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin adding new staff entries at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory groups go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings area)

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

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group name …

(Groups settings area)

If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, departments, 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 hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …

To edit Groups for an entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  when done …

Add as many group names as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: Change the slug for your employee if required (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Enter the employee’s position here
• Email: Add the person’s email
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add the staff member’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you have finished inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add 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 for entering your new 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 Add New Group …

The new category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign an entry to the group …

(Groups box)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

***

After filling 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 WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

For a detailed tutorial on using the WP admin toolbar , go here:

• The WP Control Section Explained

Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add more members to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your employees and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to modify individual details, hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

If you have many employees, your list can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate entries if necessary …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which entries appear on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in the main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your staff members show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding all of your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List lets you customize the style and layout of your employee directory entries 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 menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. 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 can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)

Your employee entries will now display as shown in the screenshot below …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

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, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful variation you can add to your page, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])

Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on the main menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin site.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create an employee directory in WordPress. Here are some other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.

You can also use custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

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.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, 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 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 website)

This plugin uses shortcodes.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners 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.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

Detailed information about  each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

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 List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to create an easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in your site.

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

***