Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people generally tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your business better.
If you use WordPress, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your team, or your staff members using a WordPress staff list plugin.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update staff directory in your web site.
How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost plugin that lets you easily display information about your staff members on your site.
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into the admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new entry will display on your main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just begin adding new entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory groups go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups settings screen …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups is very similar to working with WordPress categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- 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.
- Parent – Use this section to set up nested categories
- Description – Type in the group description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new directory group …
(Groups area)
If you manage a larger organization, having the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The group details will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group when done …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Edit the slug for your employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign your staff member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have finished entering details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added in Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to someone’s details. To edit a group 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 to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your permalinks …
(Not found error – Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Keep adding new details to your employee directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have finished adding staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items if required …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
After adding all staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to a new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you customize the layout and style of your directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Template)
The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your staff details will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory listings with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around 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 allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page 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”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options screen)
This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin plugin site and contact the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. Here are some other plugins you can look at to create a staff directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Modern Team Staff Directory 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)
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, schools, etc.
This plugin lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
For more details go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This 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 a profile in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable 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 sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just a single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer 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 online staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more about this plugin here:
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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site without touching code, so your web visitors can get to know you and the people in your organization better.
Images used to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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