Business experts often raise the point that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to grow your business online and increase user interaction with your site, then make it easier for visitors to get to know you and your organization better.
If you use WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you display a directory listing with information about your partners, your team, or your employees.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to add a directory of employees in your site.
How To Add An Employee Directory To Your Site: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you easily display information to visitors about your staff on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WordPress dashboard and in your admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, 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 the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu will show up in your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could just begin adding new staff details at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This opens up the Groups screen …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as adding categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
- Description – Enter a group description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new directory category …
(Groups section)
If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories 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 new items …
To edit Groups for a particular entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected category open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done …
Continue adding group names in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Modify the permalink URL for each staff member if required (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s role
- Email: The staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username (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 or faculty member here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the person to a 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 will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
After you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field for entering a group name will appear, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an individual’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
***
After filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To modify the staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If you see errors like the one shown below, check that you have set up your permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Continue adding more members to your employee directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have added staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table of all the listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile)
If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate listing items if required …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …
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 display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ listing details to the 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 allows you to arrange the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you edit the style and layout of your directory listings 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 the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff profiles will now display as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are not sure 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 staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations you can use.
A useful variation you can choose, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members info by going to the WordPress admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin site and request help from the plugin developer.
Other Employee 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 free plugins you can check out:
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:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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.
You can also set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, photo and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
Learn more about the plugin here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an individual member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
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)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer)
Staffer 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 online staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more about the plugin here:
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
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage directory of employees to your web site.
Images used in this tutorial to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com