How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

No doubt you already know that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees or team members to your site is a great way to humanize your organization.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily add an easy-to-maintain list of staff or team members to your WordPress site using a free WordPress plugin.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should 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 your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will appear on your main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings)

Note: Adding directory groups is very similar to creating WordPress categories …

(Groups work just like categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category name. 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 group description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create a new group name …

(Groups section)

If you manage a medium to large organization, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, 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 build a directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

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

To change or reassign Groups for a particular entry, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

Your selected category details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group 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 Quick Edit …

Click Update Group when done to save your 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 categories)

Once you are done setting up your groups, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen opens up …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Modify the slug associated with your employee if you want (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type in the employee’s position here
• Email: Your staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in 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 employee or faculty member here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign your employee to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

After you have entered details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting 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 that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(Groups section)

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 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 your WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WP admin toolbar , go here:

• Using Your WordPress Admin Page

Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have correctly configured your site’s permalinks …

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

To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Keep adding more details to your directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished adding staff or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members table)

If you need to change individual details, hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find listing items if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

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

(Screen Options)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new location …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding all employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the Default Template …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

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

Your employee listings will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as the example below shows …

(Staff profiles with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

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

In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display a list of persons belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])

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

Options Menu

In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

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 your WP admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin website.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display an employee directory in WordPress. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can look at for adding an employee directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This 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)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone, pic 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 learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

More info:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders 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 on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight comes with 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 staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

Staffer 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 employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• 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 List
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and the people in your team better.

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

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