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 …

WordPress Plugin Staff DirectoryNo doubt you’ve already heard that people often tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products online? Then help visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If your site is built with WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that lets you display information about your partners, your team, or your staff.

This tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory to your WordPress site.

Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you display basic information to visitors about your staff on your website.

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into your administration and go to Plugins > Add New

Plugins Menu - Add New

(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

Plugins - plugin search results

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

Activate plugin

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will be added to the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members

Staff Members menu

(Staff Members)

All of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups

Staff Members Menu - Groups

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups section …

Groups settings screen

(Groups area)

Useful Tip

Note: Adding groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …

Groups are like WordPress categories

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

  1. Group Name – Enter your group category 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 – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
  4. Description – Type in the category description here
  5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up your new directory category …

Groups settings area

(Groups screen)

If you manage a business that employs many people, 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 want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …

Nested groups

(Nested categories)

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

Add New Group button

To edit or reassign Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

Edit Simple Staff List Groups

The group will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

Edit Group screen

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

Update Groups

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

Group name - Quick Edit feature

Click on Update Group  to save your changes …

Update button

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

add group names to your directory

Add as many nested groups as you like …

nested groups

(Nested groups)

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

Staff Members – Add New

In your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New

Staff Members - Add New

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member settings area …

Add New Staff Member section

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

  • Name: The staff member’s name
  • Permalink: You can edit each employees’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

  • Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

  • Position: The staff member’s role
  • Email: The staff member’s email
  • Phone Number: Type your staff member’s phone number into this field
  • Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
  • Twitter URL: Type in your company’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 staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

  • Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

Practical Tip

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

Screen options tab

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

Enable additional fields in screen options

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …

Add Staff Member fields

(Staff directory settings)

After you are done entering details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

Groups section

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group

Groups - + Add New Group

(Groups - + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to enter 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 …

Groups feature

The new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an employee’s details to the group …

New group added

(New group added via Groups feature)

Useful Info

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

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

WordPress Publish button

Click View Post

View your employee directory details

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

Edit Staff Member link - admin toolbar

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

Tip

To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

Note: If ’not found’ page errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …

errors

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

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

Repeat the above process to add more details to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main menu …

Staff Members - All Staff Members

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your staff members and all details you have added for each entry …

Staff Members details list

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to change an individual’s details, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View

Edit Staff Members profile information

(Editing Staff Members profile)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find a member if necessary …

Search members

(Search members)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options

Screen Options tab

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your settings …

Staff Members Screen Options

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that your employees display on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

Staff Members - Order

(Staff Members – Order)

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

Reorder items using drag and drop

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

Reordered list

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that listings display on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the WordPress admin menu …

Staff Members - Order

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its new location …

Reorder listings using drag and drop

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

Reordered list items

(Reordered listings)

After adding your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Staff Members - Templates

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

Simple Staff List Templates screen

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

For example, below is the Default Template

Default Plugin Template

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

Default Template Listing

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

Employee profiles with social media URLs added

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

Useful Information

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage

Staff Members Menu - Usage

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

Usage Shortcode section

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

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

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can decide to use to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options

Staff Members - Options

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

Simple Staff List - Options settings screen

(Options settings screen)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your dashboard menu and choosing Tools > Export

Export Staff Members plugin information

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin faq page.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your faculty members. Here are a few other free plugins you can use to create an employee directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

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 - Plugin For WordPress

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …

Staff Directory - WordPress Plugin

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

Faculty And Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory - Plugin For WordPress

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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.

Learn more here:

Company Directory

Company Directory - WP Plugin

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, image and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more here:

Employee Spotlight

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, 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 employee circle grid

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Learn more about this plugin here:

Staffer

Staffer - WordPress Plugin

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an online 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.

Learn more here:

Practical 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 Directory Plugin
  • WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
  • Employee Directory WordPress
  • etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff members to your web site.

WordPress Staff List

Images of models used to depict sample 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