Tag: Staff List

Consumer behaviour research shows that people generally tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is help visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

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

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of employees to your WordPress site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff List Directory To Your Site

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)

Simple Staff List lets you staff (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into the WP administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will have been added to your WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups settings screen …

(Groups screen)

Note: Configuring directory groups works in the same way as configuring WordPress categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

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

(Groups settings screen)

If you are a business that employs many people, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many groups and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating each item …

To edit or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

The group will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your employee’s name
• Slug: Change the permalink URL for your employee if you want (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign a staff or faculty member to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you have finished inputting details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person to the group …

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering your staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• An Overview Of Your WordPress Control Page

Note: If you have set up groups and get errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …

(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)

If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have entered all employee details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your listing entries and their details …

(Staff Members table)

If you need to make changes to individual details, just hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items if required …

(Search members)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Screen Options)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which your staff details show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the new location …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added 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 allowing you to arrange the order that entries appear on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

After adding all member listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you customize the layout and style of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the layout and style of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are 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 can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with editing code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

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

For example, a useful variation you can decide to use to display a list of staff or team 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”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options settings screen)

Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the main menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need specific help with the plugin, go to the plugin support page.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your team members in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can look at for creating a directory on your website:

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 this plugin here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The plugin lets you set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, image and member 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

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

This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in 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 sourced from plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff 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 Staffer plugin 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 – Plugin For WordPress

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

Hopefully, now you know how to add a directory of employees or team members in your site using free plugins.

Images of persons used to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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