Tag: Staff List

Many business and marketing experts have successfully proven over time that people generally tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for simple ways to sell more products online and get people to engage more on your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

Adding a directory of staff to your site can help boost your credibility online and get more prospects to send you enquiries for quotes or more information.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add an easy-to-maintain directory of staff members to your website.

Adding An Employee Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

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

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

Log into the WP admin and in your admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new entry will be added to your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can begin to add new entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your categories. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Configuring groups works just like categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version 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 to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter a category description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new category …

(Groups section)

If you manage a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

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

Your selected item will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group when done …

Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter the staff member’s name
• Slug: Here you can modify the permalink URL for each staff member if you want (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff or faculty member here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign an employee 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)

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 staff member’s details …

(Add Staff Member fields)

Once you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen 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 that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new group will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

***

After filling in your team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• The WordPress Admin Section Explained

Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …

(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)

For a detailed tutorial about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Keep adding more members to your staff directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding staff members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list with all the directory items and any details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to modify an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find entries if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search field)

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 …

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that entries appear on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding all of your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which entries appear on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you create 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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the WP 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 Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory entries will now display as as shown below …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with CSS styles and template tags or are not sure 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 allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use.

For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display a list of 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 using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List faq page and request help from the plugin developer.

Other Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a listing of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are some other free plugins you can use to create a staff directory on your website:

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)

Go here to learn more:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also add custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• 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 includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, image 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 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 shortcodes.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just a single person in a four-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 selected in the editor, and 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

This 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 a staff directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

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.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know your business better.

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

***