How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

Consumer behaviour research shows that people generally buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for ideas to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees to your site can help increase your credibility online and get more prospects to get in touch with you.

In this tutorial, we show you how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple employee directory in your WordPress site using a free WordPress plugin.

Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you create a basic staff directory list for.

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

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, 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 the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will appear in your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new employee entries at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups settings …

(Groups section)

Note: Configuring directory groups is just like adding categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group 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 to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Enter your category description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you run a business that employs many people, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, 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 organize these into a directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …

Click Update Group after making changes …

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

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

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

(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: Enter the employee’s name
• Slug: Edit each staff members’ permalink URL (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: Your employee’s role
• Email: Your employee’s email address
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type 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 employee here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

Once you are done entering details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

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

(New group)

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 above for details).

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After filling in your staff or team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …

Click View Post …

To make changes to the staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• An Overview Of Your WordPress Admin Page

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

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With SEO-Friendly URLs

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the directory entries and any details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to change individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find entries …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to its new location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

After adding your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Templates page)

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

For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode section)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations you can use.

A useful variation you can add, for example, to display a list of employees belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List plugin site.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your faculty in WordPress. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at:

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

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 companies, teams, etc.

The plugin lets you add custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, pic and member 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 shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

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

Detailed information about  each team 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)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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 sourced from Staffer plugin 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 – Plugin For WordPress

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
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of employees to your WordPress site.

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

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