Many business and marketing experts have successfully demonstrated over the years that people will mostly buy from those they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then help your visitors get to know your business better.
If your site is powered by the WordPress CMS platform, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your employees using a staff list plugin.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage simple employee directory in WordPress with no coding skills required.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into the dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings 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 installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu will appear in your main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new employee details at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory groups go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This loads the Groups settings screen …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. 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 group description in this field (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create the new category …
(Groups settings screen)
If you work with a larger organization, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups 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 on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To change Groups for an individual item, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected group will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Edit the slug associated with each employee if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username (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. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign a staff or team member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(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 employee’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
After you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
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 directory category and click on Add New Group …
The new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your listing to the group …
(Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. 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 entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can edit your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
For a detailed tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff details into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your directory entries and any details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit individual entries, just hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate items if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that entries appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee listings show on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in the main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to a new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
After adding all employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you create the layout and style of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields show up in your directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your directory will now look like …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.
A useful shortcode variation you can select, 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=”senior staff”])
You can also make your listings display 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 – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members details by going to the WP admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin plugin site.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are some other free WordPress plugins you can check out for adding a staff directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin provides 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 profiles in a widget area.
Learn more here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone number, image and 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 sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an individual member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer plugin 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 website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to create and add an easy-to-update staff directory to your website.
Images of persons used in this tutorial to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)