How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

Business experts have successfully demonstrated over the years that people generally will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know you and your business better.

Adding a directory of staff to your website can lead to more trust, increase your credibility online and get interested prospects to contact you.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain employee directory to your site.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding 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 WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you easily display basic information to visitors about your staff on your site.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your WordPress admin and go to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings 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 the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will have been added to your WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can start adding new staff members at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory groups. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups settings panel …

(Groups section)

Note: Configuring directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter the category description
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up your new group name …

(Groups section)

If you are a larger organization, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, developers, 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 build a hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for an item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

Continue adding group names to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add the employee’s name
• Slug: Edit each employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s role
• Email: The staff member’s email
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add your company’s Twitter username here (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. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

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 …

(Staff directory fields)

Once you are done inputting each staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group)

A field for creating your group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(Groups box)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• Your WP Control Panel Explained

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

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

If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Set Up WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add more details to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details)

If you need to modify an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing 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 locate items …

(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 …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired position …

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding member details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

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 style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

For example, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that you can use.

A useful variation you can decide to use, 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=”Asia Pacific Region”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options settings screen)

Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

You can also export your staff members data by going to your WordPress admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need specific help with this plugin, go to the plugin plugin site.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build an employee directory in WordPress. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can use for adding a staff directory on your website:

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 go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also add custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin provides 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 a profile in a widget area.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, pic and bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 sourced from plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

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 an onsite employee directory …

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

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

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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