Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

It’s often said in business and marketing that people tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online and increase user interaction with your site, then help visitors get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

Adding an employee directory to your site is a great way to humanize your organization.

This tutorial shows you how to create an easy-to-manage directory of employees in WordPress.

How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site: Plugin Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WordPress administration and go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu entry will appear in your main WP menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can start adding new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings up the Groups settings …

(Groups settings)

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

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Type in 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.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter your category description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create your new directory group …

(Groups settings)

If you manage a medium to large organization, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, developers, departments, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for specific items, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

Your selected item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

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

Staff Members – Add New

From your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your staff member’s name
• Slug: Edit your staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign an employee or team member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

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

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you have entered details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for creating a group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your staff member to the group …

(Groups box)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee’s 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 typing in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can update your employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• Using Your WordPress Admin Page

Note: If a page error shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)

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

• Changing WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your staff or partner directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding staff details into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details)

If you need to edit individual details, just hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate a member if necessary …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options)

Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which entries display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added all of your staff details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to a desired position …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you edit 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 employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory, insert 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 Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with editing code 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 main menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.

A useful variation you can add to your page, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”technical engineers”])

Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)

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

You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

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

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create a directory of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at to add a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.

This plugin also lets you create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)

More info:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

Detailed information about  each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Staffer uses custom post types for 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. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

For more details go here:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

If the above plugins 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 Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your site visitors can get to know your organization better.

Models used in this tutorial to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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