It’s often said in business and marketing circles that people generally will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online? Then help prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.
Adding a directory of staff to your site can help boost your credibility online and get more prospects contacting you.
This tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-update employee directory to your WordPress site.
Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you easily staff members.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your administration and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu will appear in the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin to add new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This loads the Groups area …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Adding directory groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in a category description here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create the new group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you run a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, project teams, departments, 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 entering new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for a particular entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected category will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This area 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: The employee’s name
- Slug: You can change each employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The employee’s position
- Email: Add your employee’s email here
- Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter your company’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 here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
After you are done inputting each staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new group will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your entry to the group …
(New group added via Groups feature)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …
Click View Post …
To edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If you see errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get an error)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this tutorial:
Keep adding new entries to your employee directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your employees and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find listing items if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which your employees show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to the desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added staff details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you customize the style and layout of your staff 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 the main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your staff entries will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with code 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 directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that you can use.
A useful variation you can insert in your page, 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”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Options settings screen)
Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members info by going to your menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need additional information about the plugin, visit the Simple Staff List website.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are other free plugins you can look at to add an employee directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Modern Team Staff Directory 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 about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
For more details go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile 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, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just a single person in a four-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 which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight 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 onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all 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, 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
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has helped you learn how to create an easy-to-update staff directory in your web site.
Images of persons used 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)