Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people will mostly buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online? Then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.
If you are a WordPress user, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a staff list plugin that lets you display a directory listing with information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add an easy-to-update employee directory to WordPress.
Adding An Employee List 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 free and lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WordPress administration and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will have been added to the main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new staff members after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups settings panel …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Adding directory groups works in the same way as configuring categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in the category description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new category …
(Groups settings area)
If you are a business that employs many people, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category 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 build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group after making changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter the employee’s name
- Slug: Here you can edit your employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add 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 employees here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a 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)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
After you are done inputting each staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding 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 enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …
Your new group will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing someone’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 typing in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have configured your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Keep adding new members to your staff directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table with all the staff members and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, just hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
If you have many entries, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find listing items if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Selecting a 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 settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that entries appear on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added all of your employees’ details to the 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 that allows you to set the order that listings show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to a desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding all of your staff details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List lets you create the style and layout of your directory listings 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 dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Your directory entries will now display as shown in the example below …
(Employee profiles with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, 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 staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.
A useful shortcode variation you can choose, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Options screen)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List site and contact the plugin author.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create a faculty directory in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
Go here to learn more:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, pic and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one 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.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to create an easy-to-update directory of employees in your website.
Images of persons used to display sample staff members 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)