Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

Many business and marketing experts have successfully demonstrated over the years that people often tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for simple ways to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.

If your website uses the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your faculty, or your staff members using a directory plugin.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage employee directory to your site.

Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a free WordPress plugin that lets you staff (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

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

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will display on your main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

Here is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin adding new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups panel …

(Groups settings)

Note: Configuring groups is very similar to creating categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group 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 nested categories
4. Description – Type in your category description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new group …

(Groups area)

If you work with a larger organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

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 WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Here you can modify your staff members’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type in the person’s role into this field
• Email: Your staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Add the staff member’s phone number here
• Facebook URL: Enter your staff member’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type your company’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employees here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign the individual to a specific group (see above 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)

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

(Staff directory fields)

Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new directory category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s 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 filling in your staff or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To modify your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• The WordPress Admin Section – A Tutorial

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

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

We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks in WordPress here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add more details to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your staff profiles and all details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to make changes to the 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 staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member if required …

(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 …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all staff details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its new location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed 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 Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Directory with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory 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

In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that you can use.

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

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members information)

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

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out to add a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.

The plugin also lets you create custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

The Faculty And Staff Directory 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 profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each employee 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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one 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.

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which 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 circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer

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 Directory Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Directory Plugin 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 business better.

Images used to depict fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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