Consumer behavior studies show that people generally tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
If you are searching for ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site, then help your visitors get to know you and your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees to your website can help to generate more trust, boost your online credibility and get interested prospects to get in touch with you.
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain staff directory to your website.
How To Add An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you easily build a simple staff directory for.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your administration and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will display on the WordPress admin menu 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 from this menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can start adding new staff details after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual group members.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your categories go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This opens up the Groups panel in your browser …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Adding directory groups is just like configuring WordPress categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Type in 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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in a group description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create the new group …
(Groups settings)
If you run a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories 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 categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change Groups for a specific item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The group details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Continue adding group names in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
After you are done setting up your directory structure, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This opens up the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Type the staff member’s name
- Permalink: Change the permalink URL for each staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The employee’s position
- Email: Enter the person’s email address into this field
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter 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 employee or faculty 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 the individual to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(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 staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field for entering a group name will display, with a dropdown 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 added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering your team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To update your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:
Note: If you get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Not found error – Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have finished adding staff members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your directory items and any details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify an individual’s entry, simply hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members profile info)
If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate member details …
(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)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. 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 allows you to specify the order that your employees appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to a desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you edit the style and layout of your directory listings 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 menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing 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 appear in the directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory profiles will now display as as shown below …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as 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 menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations you can use.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to the menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List site and contact the plugin author.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
The plugin lets you use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
This plugin 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 profiles in a widget area.
For more details go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like job 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 learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an individual member of your team in a four-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 selected in the editor, 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 source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)
Staffer uses custom post types for staff 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 source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more about this plugin 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has helped you learn how to add a simple and easy-to-update directory of employees to WordPress.
Models used in this tutorial to portray 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)