Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

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

If you are searching for inexpensive ways to sell more products online, then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust your organization better.

If you own a WordPress-driven site, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a staff list plugin that lets you add a directory containing information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple faculty members directory to your web site using free plugins.

Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory

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)

Simple Staff List lets you employee.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new menu will show up in your main WP menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Configuring The Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your categories. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings up the Groups screen in your web browser …

(Groups settings)

Note: Configuring directory groups works in the same way as adding categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

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

(Groups settings screen)

If you run a larger organization, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups 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 assign these to a hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

To change or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

The group will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click the Update Group button when done …

Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your staff directory)

After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Permalink: Change each employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s role
• Email: Add the person’s email address
• Phone Number: The employee’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: 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: Enter a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

Once you are done entering 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 staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, 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 …

The new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person to the group …

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing 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 employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To make changes to the employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Understanding The WordPress Dashboard

Note: If ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using WP permalinks here:

• How To Change Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding new details to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee or team members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table with all the directory items and the details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to change individual entries, hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

If you have many employees, your list can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find items if required …

(Search members)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which listings appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which your employees appear on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to a desired location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added members’ 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 customize the style and layout of your staff directory listings 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 dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – 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, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with CSS code and template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, 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=”senior staff”])

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on the main menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

You can also export your staff members info by going to your main admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List faq page.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for creating a directory of your team members. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

You can also add custom fields …

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

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin was developed to provide 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 a profile in a widget area.

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone, photo and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just an individual member of your team 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, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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 sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

If the directory plugins listed above 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
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

Images used to depict sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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