Tag: WP Staff Directory Plugin

You have no doubt heard that people tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and 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 add information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff members.

This tutorial explains how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory in your WordPress site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you easily employee.

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

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

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups section …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Configuring groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

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

(Groups settings area)

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

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

The item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent 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 over the group name and select Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add your staff member’s name
• Slug: You can modify the slug associated with each staff member if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s position
• Email: The staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in your employee’s phone number here
• 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 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: Add a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the individual to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory settings)

After you are done entering details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

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

Your new directory category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group added via Groups section)

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 entering the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• Your WordPress Control Area Explained

Note: If you see a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …

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

If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Keep adding new entries to your staff or team directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list with all your staff members and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit 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 …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate a member if required …

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display on your site.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which your employees appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to a new position …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to create the layout and style of your employee directory entries 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 – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

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

For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Plugin 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 listing. To make these fields display in your directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the example below …

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.

A useful shortcode variation you can select, 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=”sales trainers”])

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

Options Menu

In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin support page and contact the plugin author.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for creating a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are some other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

You can also create custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Company Directory lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone number, pic and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, 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.

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer

If the directory plugins listed above 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
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple employee directory in in WordPress using free WordPress plugins.

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

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