Tag: WordPress Staff Plugin

Business experts have successfully demonstrated over the years that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know you and your business better.

If you use WordPress, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your employees using a WordPress directory plugin.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily add an easy-to-manage list directory of staff or team members in WordPress without editing code.

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

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List lets you display information to visitors about your staff on your site.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

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

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(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 will have been added to the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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 the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups screen in your web browser …

(Groups section)

Note: Adding directory groups is just like setting up categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by entering the following information:

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

(Groups settings area)

If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, developers, 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 organize these into a hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

To change or reassign Groups for specific entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

Add as many categories as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your directory structure, you can start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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: Enter your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Change the slug for each employee if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Add the person’s role
• Email: Enter the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number here
• Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type 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: Type in a profile description for your staff members here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

Once you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign the entry to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee or team 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 …

Click View Post …

To make changes to the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Control Screen – An Overview

Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have configured your site’s permalinks correctly …

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

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

• Configuring WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding new details to your employee directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members list)

If you need to change an individual’s details, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

If you have many entries, your list can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate a member …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings display on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Templates page)

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

For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The This code will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Your employee listings will now display as as shown below …

(Directory with social media links added)

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

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 – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that you can use with the plugin.

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

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options settings screen)

Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin support page and request help from the plugin developer.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

The Modern Team Staff Directory 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)

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

The plugin lets you insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin was developed to provide 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.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, photo and bio, allowing you to present 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.

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team 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.

The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)

Learn more about the plugin 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 a staff directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

Images of models used in this tutorial to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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