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 Plugin WordPressMany business experts have successfully proven that people will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a directory of staff to your website can help increase your online credibility and get interested prospects considering using your services.

This tutorial explains how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in WordPress.

How To Add A Staff Directory To WordPress

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost plugin that lets you staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New

Plugins Menu - Add New

(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

WordPress Plugins - Add Plugins screen

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

Activate plugin

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new entry will display on the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members

Staff Members

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could start to add new staff member details at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.

Staff Members – Groups

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

Staff Members - Groups

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups area …

Groups settings screen

(Groups settings)

Practical Tip

Note: Adding groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …

Groups work just like WordPress categories

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

  1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
  2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
  3. Parent – Use this section to set up nested groups
  4. Description – Enter a group description (optional)
  5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new group name …

Groups settings area

(Groups area)

If you are a business that employs many people, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.

Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …

Nested categories

(Nested categories)

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

Add New Group

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

Edit Groups

Your selected group details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

Edit Group settings

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

Simple Staff List Update button

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

Simple Staff List Group name - Quick Edit feature

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

Update Groups

Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

adding groups to your directory

Add as many nested categories as you like …

Nested categories

(Nested categories)

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

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New

Staff Members Menu - Add New

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

Add New Staff Member settings screen

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

  • Name: Your employee’s name
  • Slug: Modify your employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

  • Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

  • Position: Enter the person’s position
  • Email: The employee’s email address
  • Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
  • Facebook URL: Type your staff member’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
  • Twitter URL: Enter 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 a profile description for your employee 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 groups).

Useful Tip

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

Screen options

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

Enable additional fields in screen options tab

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

Staff directory fields

(Add New Staff Member settings)

Once you are done entering details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …

Groups section

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up categories 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

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

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

Groups feature

A new category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

Groups box

(New group added)

Important Info

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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

WordPress Publish button

Click View Post

View Post

To update your staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

Edit Staff Member link - admin toolbar

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

Practical Tip

To learn more about using the admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

Note: If you see a page error like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been set up correctly …

'not found' page errors

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

If you need help setting up permalinks, refer to this tutorial:

Keep adding more members to your directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

Staff Members Menu - All Staff Members

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

Staff Members details

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to make changes to individual details, hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View

Edit Staff Members profile information

(Editing Staff Members details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find a member …

Search members

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

Staff Members Screen Options tab

(Screen Options tab)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …

Staff Members 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 show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …

Staff Members - Order

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …

Reorder items using drag and drop

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

Reordered list items

(Reordered list items)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …

Staff Members - Order

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to a desired location …

Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

Reordered list items

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to edit the style and layout of your staff list entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the style and layout of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …

Staff Members - Templates

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

Customize your directory template

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the Default Template

Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template

(Default Plugin Template)

The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …

Default Plugin Template Listing

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

Template tags added to Staff Loop Template

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

Your directory details will now display as shown in the screenshot below …

Employee profiles with social media links

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

Info

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage

Staff Members - Usage

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

Simple Staff List - Usage shortcode variations

(Usage Shortcode section)

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

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can select to display a list of members 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 display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options

Staff Members - Options

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

Options settings

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …

Export Staff Members plugin info

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin website.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a listing of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)

Learn more here:

Staff Directory

Staff Directory - WordPress 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 churches, schools, etc.

This plugin lets you set up custom fields …

Staff Directory - WP Plugin

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

More info:

Faculty And Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory - WordPress Plugin

(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 – WordPress Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, pic and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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

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

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

Employee Spotlight

Employee Spotlight - Plugin For WordPress

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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 Employee Spotlight website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

Staffer

Staffer - WP Plugin

(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 website …

Staffer archive page

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin 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:

Practical Tip

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a list of staff members to your site using a free WP plugin.

WordPress Staff Plugin

Models used to display 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