Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your business 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 members using a staff list plugin.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily create and add an updatable simple team members directory to WordPress using a free plugin.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff List Directory In WordPress
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you display information about your staff members on your website.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WP admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, 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)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will display on the WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can start to add new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign youremployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups section …
(Groups settings)
Note: Adding groups is just like setting up WordPress categories …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested categories
- Description – Type in your category description here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create a new directory category …
(Groups settings)
If you manage a medium to large organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, 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 assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change Groups for a specific entry, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button to save your changes …
Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Slug: Edit each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The employee’s role
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
Once you are done inputting details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field will display allowing you to enter 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 Add New Group …
Your new group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your list entry to the group …
(Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
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After filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using WP permalinks here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new members to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done adding employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table of all the listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to individual details, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone 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)
If you have many names added to this section, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to find items if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to 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)
Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which your employees display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added all of your employees’ 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 set the order that entries display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you create 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 the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in the directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Here is what your listings page will now look like …
(Directory listings with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display a list of employees or faculty members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin support page.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory 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)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone, photo and bio, allowing you to present 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 website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one 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.
The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress 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 onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
If the directory plugins listed above 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
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of models used to display fictitious staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie