How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

Business experts often raise the point that people will buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online? Then help visitors get to know, like and trust your organization better.

If you run a WordPress-powered website, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your team, or your staff members using a staff list plugin.

This tutorial explains how to create an easy-to-update directory of employees in your web site.

Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into the administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will appear on the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start adding new employee details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your categories. In your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings panel …

(Groups section)

Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as configuring categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Enter 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 section to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a group description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group name …

(Groups section)

If you run a business that employs many people, the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, developers, departments, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for an individual entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The selected group details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose Quick Edit …

Click Update Group after making changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member screen loads in your browser …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type the staff member’s name
• Permalink: Edit the slug associated with each employee if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s position
• Email: Your staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Enter the staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in your employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff members here. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: 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 tab)

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 …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group link)

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

A new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign an entry to the group …

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a person’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 …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Administration Panel Explained

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

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding more entries to your directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee or team members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details list)

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

Click on Edit 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 member from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members profile details)

If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find entries if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

You can specify which fields can 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 choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding member details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

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

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory 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 assistance.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your dashboard menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

A useful 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 display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options in your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

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

You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need help with this plugin, go to the Simple Staff List support page and request help from the plugin developer.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your faculty members. For example, here are other free plugins you can use for creating an employee directory on your site:

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 – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The plugin lets you create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone number, photo and 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 staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just an individual person 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 that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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 plugin website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee 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: plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-update simple faculty members directory to your WordPress site without coding skills.

Models used to depict fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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