Tag: WordPress Staff List

Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.

If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your faculty, or your employees using a WordPress directory plugin.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage list of employees or faculty members to a WordPress site without touching code.

How To 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 Plugin For WordPress)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you display information to visitors about your staff members on your website.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will appear on your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just start to add new employee entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff members into.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your groups go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings …

(Groups screen)

Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Type in a group description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create a new directory category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you run a business that employs many people, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, 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 build a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each item …

To change or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

Your selected item’s details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …

Click the Update Group button 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 groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type the employee’s name
• Slug: Edit your employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s role
• Email: Enter the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Enter your employee’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 (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff members here. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the individual to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …

(Staff directory settings)

Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …

Your new category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to your employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:

• Understanding Your WordPress Dashboard

Note: If a ‘page not found’ error shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks, see this tutorial:

• Configuring WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding new members to your staff or partner directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table of all the staff profiles and any details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to make changes to individual details, just hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to edit 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 employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members profile)

If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate member details …

(Search members)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which your employee listings show on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired position …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to its desired position …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the style and layout of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

To customize your directory, 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 Plugin Template)

The This code will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks 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 menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use.

A useful shortcode variation you can choose, for example, to display a list of individuals belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”technical engineers”])

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need additional information about this plugin, visit the plugin faq page and contact the plugin author.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. Here are other plugins you can look at:

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you easily display a list of team/staff/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 sourced from Staff Directory website)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This 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 a profile in a widget area.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, image and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders 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 on plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get 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 website)

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

This 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 sourced from Staffer website)

Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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 List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff directory to your WordPress site without editing code, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

Images of persons used to display staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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