How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

Learn how to easily add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site with no coding skills required …

Staff Directory WordPress PluginBusiness experts often raise the point that people will mostly buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for inexpensive ideas to sell more products or services online, then help prospects get to know you and your organization better.

Adding a directory of staff to your site can help boost your online credibility and get interested prospects buying from your site.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory to your web site.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you easily display information to visitors about your employee on your site.

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

Log into your administration and in your admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New

Plugins Menu - 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 the Install Now button …

WordPress Plugins - plugin search results

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin

Activate plugin

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will be added to your main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members

Staff Members

(Staff Members menu)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start adding new staff members after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualgroup members into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

Staff Members Menu - Groups

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings screen …

Groups section

(Groups area)

Tip

Note: Adding groups works just like categories in WordPress …

Groups are like categories

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

  1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
  2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
  3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
  4. Description – Enter a category description here (optional)
  5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up a new category …

Groups area

(Groups screen)

If you work with a larger organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, faculties, 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

(Nested groups)

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

Add New Group

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

Editing Groups

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

Edit Group settings

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

Simple Staff List Update button

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

Simple Staff List Group slug - Quick Edit

Click on Update Group  when done …

Simple Staff List Update Groups

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

add categories to your directory

Add as many nested groups as you like …

Add nested categories your staff directory

(Nested categories)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New

Staff Members Menu - Add New

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings area …

Add New Staff Member settings screen

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

  • Name: Your staff member’s name
  • Slug: Modify each staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

  • Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

  • Position: Type in the person’s role
  • Email: Add your employee’s email
  • Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number into this field
  • Facebook URL: Add your company’s Facebook URL (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 members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

  • Groups: This section lets you assign the individual to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

Tip

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

Screen options tab

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

Enable additional fields in screen options

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

Add New Staff Member settings

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …

Groups box

(Groups feature)

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

Add a new group inside your Groups box

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

Groups section

A new group will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a staff member to the group …

New group

(Groups feature)

Important

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. 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 employee directory …

Updating your staff directory details

Click View Post

View your employee directory details

You can edit your staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

Edit Staff Member link - admin toolbar

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

Practical Tip

If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:

Note: If you get errors like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …

Check your permalinks if you get a 'page not found' error

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

If you need help setting up WP permalinks, go here:

Repeat the above process to continue adding new details to your employee or team directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your dashboard menu …

Staff Members Menu - All Staff Members

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

Staff Members list

(Staff Members table)

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

Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View

Editing Staff Members profile

(Edit Staff Members info)

If you have added many items to this section, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find entries if required …

Search Staff Members search box

(Search members)

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

Screen Options tab

(Screen Options tab)

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 save your screen options …

Screen Options

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

Staff Members - Order

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the new position …

Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

Reordered list entries

(Reordered list items)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

Staff Members Menu - Order

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new position …

Reorder listings using drag and drop

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

Reordered list items

(Reordered list entries)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the style and layout of your 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 menu …

Staff Members - Templates

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

Customize your directory template

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template

Default Template

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing

(Default Simple Staff List 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] template tags, as shown in the example below …

Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

Employee profiles with social media links

(Directory with social media URLs added)

Info

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around 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 directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage

Staff Members - Usage

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

Usage shortcodes

(Usage Shortcode section)

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

A useful shortcode variation you can add, 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=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

In your main menu, select Staff Members >Options

Staff Members - Options

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

Options settings screen

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export screen …

Export Staff Members information

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List support page.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display an employee directory in WordPress. For example, here are other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)

Learn more about this plugin here:

Staff Directory

Staff Directory - WP Staff Directory Plugin

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also create custom fields …

Staff Directory - WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

Faculty And Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP 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 installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

Go here to learn more:

Company Directory

Company Directory - WP Plugin

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, photo 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 staff member in a customizable single view …

Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more about the plugin here:

Employee Spotlight

Employee Spotlight - WordPress Plugin

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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

Responsive layout with circle grid

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Learn more about the plugin here:

Staffer

Staffer - WP Staff Directory Plugin

(Staffer)

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

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

For more details go here:

Useful Tip

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site without using code, so your site visitors can get to know your company better.

Staff Directory WordPress Plugin

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

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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum