Consumer buying habits show that people tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products online or increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
Adding a staff directory to your website can help to generate more trust, boost your credibility online and get more prospects to consider using your services.
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory to WordPress.
Adding A Staff Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List lets you display information to visitors about your staff on your website.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu will show up in your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start to add new staff entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups section …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Configuring directory groups is very similar to creating categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Enter the group description
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create the new group name …
(Groups area)
If you are a medium to large organization, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for a particular item, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button when done …
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 groups to your directory)
After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Slug: Change the slug for your staff member if you want (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add your employee’s role into this field
- Email: Type in the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee or team member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign a staff or faculty member to a group (see the previous section 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 …
(Staff directory settings)
After you have finished inputting details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your staff member to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s 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 edit 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 dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Not found error – Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from your employee 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 names to add, your list can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries if necessary …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options tab)
Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your employees appear on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding members’ details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your staff profiles show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to a desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin allows you to customize the style and layout of your directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields show in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Here is what your directory should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that you can use with this plugin.
A useful variation you can insert in your page, for example, to display a list of staff members 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 make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need additional information about the plugin, go to the Simple Staff List website and request help from the plugin author.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are some other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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 go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides 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.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone, photo 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 staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners 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 upon plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and 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 sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)
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 onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details go here:
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 Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to create a simple and easy-to-maintain employee directory in WordPress.
Images used to display staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)