Something that is generally well known in business, is that people tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for simple ways to sell more products or services online, then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees to your website can lead to increased trust, increase your credibility online and get more prospects contacting you.
This tutorial shows you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff members in your WordPress site.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you create a basic staff directory list for.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu will appear in your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for your 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 can just begin adding new staff details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups settings …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Setting up groups is just like configuring categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in your group description here
- Click Add New Group when done to create the new category …
(Groups settings screen)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected group details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group when done …
Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Slug: Change each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Type in the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
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 employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories 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 for entering your group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …
A new category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your staff member to the group …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. To edit a group 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 or faculty 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 – WordPress admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WP admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If an error like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
For a detailed tutorial about setting up permalinks, go here:
Keep adding new entries to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding staff or faculty members to 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 staff profiles and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify individual details, hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to find a member …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which listings display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding member details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that your employees appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to create the style and layout of your employee 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)
This opens the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Simple Staff List 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 listing. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your employee details will now display as shown in the example below …
(Staff profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure 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 allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page, for example, 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=”senior staff”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need additional information about this plugin, go to the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin developer.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your team members. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
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 – Responsive Templates)
For more details go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
This plugin lets you easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides 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.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
This plugin lets you add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, image and 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an individual 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 device screen size.
Detailed information about each staff 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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer 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 onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
If the above plugins 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff members to your site.
Images used to depict staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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