Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

You have no doubt heard that people will mostly buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online? Then help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.

If you have a WordPress-driven site, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your staff using a WordPress directory plugin.

This tutorial will show you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of employees in your website.

Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily create a basic staff directory for.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WP dashboard and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will display on the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just start to add new staff members after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your categories go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups settings …

(Groups section)

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

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group category 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 a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new group …

(Groups screen)

If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for specific entries, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click 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)

Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

This section 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 staff member’s name
• Permalink: You can edit your employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type in the person’s role into this field
• Email: The staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type 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 in a profile description for your employees here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

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

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will appear 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 group and click on Add New Group …

Your new group will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a person to the group …

(New group)

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 of the tutorial above for details).

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After entering your team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

To modify the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Navigate Inside Your WordPress Dashboard

Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this tutorial:

• Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

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

Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

If you have many names to add, your list can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find items if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that listings appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its desired location …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding all of your employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to create 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 employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Templates screen)

To customize your directory listings, insert 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 Plugin Template)

The The code shown above displays your directory 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, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks 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

In addition to 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 menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that you can use.

A useful variation you can choose, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])

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

Options Menu

In the WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

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

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need additional information about this plugin, visit the Simple Staff List support page.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a staff directory in WordPress. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:

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)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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 churches, teams, etc.

You can also create custom fields …

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, photo and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to 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. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, 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 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress 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 onsite staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

If the directory plugins listed above 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 Directory Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-manage list directory of staff or team members to your site with no coding skills required.

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

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