Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

No doubt you already know that people generally will buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for cost-effective ways to grow your business online and get people to engage more on your site, then something you can do, is help visitors get to know you and your organization better.

If you have a WordPress-powered website, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a WordPress staff list plugin that lets you display a directory listing with information about your partners, your faculty, or your staff.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage simple employee directory in your site.

Adding A Staff List Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily staff members.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will be added to the main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Plugin Configuration

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups screen …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Adding groups is similar to creating categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your 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 nested groups
4. Description – Enter a category description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new directory category …

(Groups settings)

If you run a business that employs many people, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, 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 entering each new item …

To change Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

The selected item’s details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

To change your Group name or slug, hover 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 …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Edit the permalink URL for your staff member if required (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your staff or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign an employee or faculty member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(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)

Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your new entry 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 new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen 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 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 Add New Group …

The new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign an employee’s details to the group …

(Groups section)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit a group 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 staff or team member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can edit your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Administration Screen Explained

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

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Continue adding more details to your directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to make changes to individual details, hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find 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 …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which entries appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all member details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the new position …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the layout and style of your employee directory listings 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 the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, here is the Default Template …

(Default Template)

The This code displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks 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 assistance.

Usage Menu

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

In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

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

A useful 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=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

Here you can modify 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 help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List faq page and request help from the plugin developer.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your employees. For example, here are other free plugins you can check out:

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.

You can also create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone, pic and staff 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 Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just a single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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 sourced from plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

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 Staffer website)

Staffer works immediately 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 – WordPress Plugin

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 Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff to your site.

Images of persons used to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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