Tag: WordPress Staff Plugin

Consumer behaviour studies show that people generally buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to sell more products or services online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.

If you are a WordPress user, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that will let you add information about your key partners, your team, or your staff.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to create and add an easy-to-maintain simple faculty members directory in your site using free WP plugins.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

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 – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you easily build a simple staff directory list for.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into your WordPress dashboard and from the admin menu, 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 the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members)

Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start adding new staff member details at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your categories go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings panel …

(Groups settings)

Note: Adding groups is similar to creating WordPress categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group. 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 the category description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up your new directory group …

(Groups screen)

If you work with a business that employs many people, having the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

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

The category will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …

Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Modify the permalink URL for each employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your employees here. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign your employee to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

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

(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 employee’s details …

(Add Staff Member fields)

Once you are done inputting details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

Your new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your employee’s details to the group …

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. To edit a group entry, 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 staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

To edit your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Dashboard – An Overview

Note: If you have set up groups and get a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:

• Setting Up WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add new members to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding staff members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the directory items and their details …

(Staff Members list)

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

Click on Edit to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate items if required …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that your staff profiles show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding all member details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that your employees appear on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to a new location …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List lets you create the style and layout of your employee directory entries 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 – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Staff Loop 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] tags to the template loop, as shown below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your staff details will now display as as shown below …

(Employee profiles with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

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

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

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

You can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need specific help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the plugin support page.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your team members. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can use to add an employee directory on your site:

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 – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

This plugin lets you create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

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, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone, photo 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 employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each team 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 go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This 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 onsite staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

Go here to learn more:

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory in your WordPress site.

Models used to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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