Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally buy from those they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
If you own a WordPress-powered website, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to add a WordPress staff list plugin that lets you add a directory containing information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to easily create and add an easy-to-maintain list of employees or team members to WordPress without touching code.
How To Add An Employee Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you staff members (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your WordPress administration and in your admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new entry will be added to your main WP menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just begin adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by configuring your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups panel …
(Groups screen)
Note: Adding groups works in the same way as adding categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Type in the slug of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in your group description in this field (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to set up your new directory category …
(Groups screen)
If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for specific items, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected category open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …
Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Change each employees’ permalink URL (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: Your employee’s role
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add 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 staff members here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
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 your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group)
A field for creating your group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person’s listing to the group …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can update your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have set up your site permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
For a detailed tutorial about setting up permalinks, go here:
Continue adding more entries to your employee directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to edit an individual’s entry, simply hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members profile info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added staff details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that entries display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to a new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding staff details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your staff directory entries 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 main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields display in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that you can use.
A useful shortcode variation you can add, 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 managers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options in the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin author.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your team members. Here are a few other free plugins you can use to create an employee directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
Modern Team Staff Directory 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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
This plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone, image and 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage list of employees or team members to your website using a free WP plugin.
Images used to portray fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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