Something often said in marketing, is that people tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to grow your business online and get people to interact more on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
Adding an employee directory to your website is a great way to let visitors learn more about the team behind your business.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to create and add an easy-to-maintain list of employees or team members to your web site using a free WordPress plugin.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you employee.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your WordPress admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP 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)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu entry will be added to the WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu 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.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could start to add new staff details at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your directory categories. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups screen …
(Groups settings)
Note: Setting up groups works just like categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested categories
- Description – Type in a category description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new category …
(Groups area)
If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories 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 on the Add New Group button after creating each item …
To edit or reassign Groups for specific items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected group will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done to save your changes …
Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you are done setting up your groups, you can start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Change the slug for each employee if you want (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type the person’s position
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’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 employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the person to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you are done inputting each staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field will appear 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 …
The new category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added via Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. 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 …
Click View Post …
To modify your staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If a ‘page not found’ error shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, see this tutorial:
Keep adding new entries to your employee or member directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to modify individual entries, just hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate a member if necessary …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which listings show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to the new location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to create the layout and style of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory listings will now display Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the screenshot below …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, 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 dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to your page to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need any help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin site and contact the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your team members. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Modern Team Staff Directory 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 here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
This plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
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, school or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone, photo and member 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 members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
Learn more about this plugin here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one single person 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 screen in 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 sourced from plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
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 a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of models used to portray 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