Tag: WordPress Staff List

Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people often tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for cost-effective ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website is a great way to let visitors learn more about the team working behind your organization.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to create and add an easy-to-manage list directory of employees or faculty members to your web site using free plugins.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you employee.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into the dashboard and in your admin menu section, click on 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 search results area.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu entry will appear in the main WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new staff details at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your groups. In your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups section …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up directory groups is similar to working with WordPress categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category. 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 the group description here
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up a new group …

(Groups section)

If you manage a medium to large organization, having the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, 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 groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button when done …

Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your staff directory)

Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member area)

This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: You can edit the permalink URL associated with your staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type in the person’s role
• Email: Add the staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Type your employee’s phone number into this field
• Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign an employee or team member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

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

(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 staff member’s details …

(Staff directory settings)

After you are done inputting details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group)

A field for creating a group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on Add New Group …

A new group will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(Groups section)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. 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 filling in your employee or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can update your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Your WordPress Admin Section Explained

Note: If a page error shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

For a detailed tutorial on setting up WP permalinks, go here:

• Setting Up WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding more details to your directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to change individual entries, simply hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile information)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate member details …

(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 tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that your employees display on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that your staff details display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List lets you customize 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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

For example, here is the Default Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

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

Your employee profiles will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the example below …

(Staff profiles with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with editing code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to 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 lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, for example, to display a list of staff members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”partners”])

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

Options Menu

In the WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Options screen)

This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin

You can also export your staff members details by going to your dashboard menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin site.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your faculty in WordPress. For example, here are some other plugins you can use for adding a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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 – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

You can also create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, image and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners 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.

With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of 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 circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

Learn more here:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

If the directory plugins listed above 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
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and the people in your team better.

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

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