Tag: WordPress Staff Plugin

Consumer buying habits show that people will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for simple ways to sell more products or services online and get people to engage more with your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust your organization better.

If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a WordPress directory plugin that will let you display a directory listing with information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff members.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff in your web site.

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

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List lets you easily employee.

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into the WP dashboard and in your admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu will have been added to the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your categories. In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups screen in your web browser …

(Groups settings)

Note: Setting up groups works in the same way as configuring WordPress categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in 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 groups
4. Description – Enter a category description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new directory group …

(Groups section)

If you run a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, project teams, faculties, etc.

Create as many groups and nested categories as you need 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 individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

The category details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen opens up …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add the staff member’s name
• Permalink: You can modify the slug associated with each staff member 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: The employee’s role
• Email: Enter the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff or team member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign an employee or faculty member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …

(Add New Staff Member fields)

Once you have finished entering details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group feature)

A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, 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 …

A new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign an individual to the group …

(Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing someone’s 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Admin Section Explained

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

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

If you need help setting up WP permalinks, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Keep adding more members to your staff or team directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done entering staff members to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list of all your directory items and their details …

(Staff Members list)

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

Click on Edit if you need to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

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

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

(Search Staff Members search field)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Staff Members 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 listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which entries show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the new location …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which entries display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you customize the style and layout of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

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

Your directory listings will now display as as the screenshot below shows …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are unsure of 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 lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

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

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can insert in 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=”sales reps”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options screen)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List faq page.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your staff in WordPress. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out for creating a directory on your site:

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also set up custom fields …

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides 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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

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

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

This plugin uses shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just a single member of your team in a 4-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 that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

Detailed information about  each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

If the above plugins 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.

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a simple and easily updatable list of employees or faculty members to your web site using free WP plugins.

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

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