Tag: WP Staff Directory Plugin

Something that is generally well known in business and marketing, is that people will mostly buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to grow your business online? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know you and your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website is a great way to personalize your organization.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create a simple and easy-to-update employee directory in your web site.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee 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 – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you staff.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

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

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will be added to your main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin adding new staff members at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your group members.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups screen …

(Groups section)

Note: Configuring groups works just like categories …

(Groups work just like categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Type in 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 section to set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in a category description (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create your new category …

(Groups settings)

If you run a larger organization, having the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, project teams, 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 directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

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

Continue adding categories to this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Slug: You can change the slug for each employee if you want (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: Type your employee’s role
• Email: The staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: Type the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the staff member’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. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign your staff member 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 tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

Once you have finished inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group feature)

A field for creating your new 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 the Add New Group button …

A new group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign the list item to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering your staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …

Click View Post …

You can update your employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• How To Navigate Inside Your WP Admin Section

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

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your listing entries and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

If you have many employees, your table can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find member details if required …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a checkbox 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 update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

After adding your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding all staff details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you create the style and layout of your 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 the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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 Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields show up in your 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 entries will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as as shown below …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff 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

As well as allowing you to customize your listing 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 shortcodes)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add 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 managers”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens 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 menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin developer.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your faculty. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

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

You can also add custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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 profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone, 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 employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one 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.

This plugin includes 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

More info:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for 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 Staffer plugin website)

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – WordPress 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
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple faculty members directory to your website using free plugins.

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

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