Tag: WordPress Staff List

Something that is generally well known in business and marketing circles, is that people generally will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If your site runs on the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that lets you add a directory containing information about your key people, your team, or your employees.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff members in your website.

Adding An Employee Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you easily staff.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into your WP dashboard and from the admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will have been added to the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just begin adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory categories. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups screen …

(Groups area)

Note: Setting up directory groups is very similar to creating categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section to set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in a group description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new directory group …

(Groups area)

If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

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

Your selected group details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …

Click Update Group when done …

Continue adding categories in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings area opens up …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add your employee’s name
• Permalink: Modify the permalink URL associated with your employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your staff member’s role
• Email: Type the person’s email
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter your staff member’s Twitter username into this field (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. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

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 …

(Add Staff Member fields)

After you have finished inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on 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. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …

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

(Groups box)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

***

After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

You can modify the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:

• Your WP Admin Section Explained

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 …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Changing Your WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding new members to your staff or faculty directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding staff details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your staff members and all details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to edit an individual’s entry, simply hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

If you have added many individual listings to this section, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate a member if required …

(Search members)

The plugin also allows you to 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)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee profiles show 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 the desired location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding all of your member details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to a desired position …

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you customize the layout and style of your staff directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Templates screen)

To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin plugin site and contact the plugin developer.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. For example, here are a few other plugins you can use:

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)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.

This plugin lets you add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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 profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone, image and staff 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 employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, 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 upon plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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 an employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

Learn more here:

• Staffer

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 Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to add an easy-to-update directory of staff to your WordPress site.

Images of models used to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

***