Consumer buying habits show that people generally tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you and your organization better.
Adding a directory of staff or team members to your site will help let visitors learn more about the people working behind the scenes in your business.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to easily add a list of employees in your web site without touching code.
How To Add An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you easily create a basic staff directory for.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu will show up in your WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin to add new employee details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups screen …
(Groups area)
Note: Configuring groups is just like adding categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in your group description here
- Click Add New Group when finished to create the new group name …
(Groups section)
If you run a business that employs many people, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change Groups for an item, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group when done to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you are done setting up your groups, you can start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member area opens up …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This screen provides 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
- Permalink: You can change each employees’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the person’s role
- Email: The employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Enter the employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add your employee’s Facebook address (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 employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can 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 fields)
Once you have entered your staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on 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 group and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your entry to the group …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. 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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To make changes to the staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have correctly set up your permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have finished adding employee or team members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the employees and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to edit individual details, hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate entries if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that entries display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding all members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which your employee listings display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
After adding your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to edit the layout and style of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Template)
The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above example. To make these fields display in your directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your directory details will now appear with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the example below shows …
(Directory listings with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that you can use.
A useful variation you can add, for example, to display a list of employees belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options on your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need help with this plugin, go to the Simple Staff List plugin site.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your faculty. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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 – WordPress Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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 go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Company Directory, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone number, photo and 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 staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
The Staffer 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 an employee directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more:
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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to add an easy-to-manage employee directory to your site.
Images of models used to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)