Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

Many business and marketing experts often raise the point that people generally will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online or increase user interaction on your site, then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know your organization better.

Adding an employee directory to your website can help boost your credibility online and get interested prospects buying from your site.

This tutorial explains how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain employee directory to your website.

How To Add An Employee Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

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

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the admin and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will have been added to your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin adding new staff members at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your groups. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This loads the Groups section in your browser …

(Groups settings)

Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

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

(Groups area)

If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category 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 directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

To change Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click Update Group after making changes …

Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

This section provides 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
• Slug: Edit your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s role
• Email: Your employee’s email address
• Phone Number: Add the staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in 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 into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employee here. As this uses the default 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 of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

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

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

Once you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group feature)

A field for entering a new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …

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

(Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• The WordPress Control Area – An Overview

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

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

• How To Change WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding more details to your employee directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the employees and all details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to change an individual’s entry, hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Edit Staff Members info)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items if necessary …

(Search members)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you edit the layout and style of your employee directory entries 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 your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Templates page)

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 used for displaying listings …

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory listings will now display Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the example below shows …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags 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, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)

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

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

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to the menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need specific help with this plugin, visit the plugin site.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your team members. Here are some other plugins you can check out for creating an employee directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

The Modern Team Staff Directory 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

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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.

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 easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email, 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 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.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

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

This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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: Employee Spotlight website)

Learn more about the plugin 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 online employee directory …

(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 – Plugin For WordPress

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
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to add an easy-to-manage employee directory to your website.

Models used to portray fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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