How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

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

Are you searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products online? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding a directory of staff or faculty members to your site can generate more trust, increase your credibility online and get interested prospects buying from you.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to create and add a list directory of staff members to your site using a free plugin.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you create a simple staff directory for.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into the WP dashboard and in your admin menu, choose 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 Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will be added to the WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

Here is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings …

(Groups area)

Note: Adding directory groups is just like configuring categories in WordPress …

(Groups work just like categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version 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 – Type in the group description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create the new directory category …

(Groups settings area)

If you work with a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many categories and nested groups as you need 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 new items …

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your employee’s name
• Permalink: You can edit your employees’ slug (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: The employee’s position
• Email: The staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type your company’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(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 of your employee’s details …

(Staff directory fields)

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

(Groups section)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group feature)

A field for creating your new 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 category and click on Add New Group …

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

(Groups feature)

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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

You can update your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:

• Your WP Control Screen – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

Note: If you have set up groups and get an 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)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using WordPress permalinks here:

• Changing WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add new members to your employee or partner directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your directory items and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details table)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members info)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find member details …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new location …

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added members’ details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List allows you to edit the style and layout of your employee 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 main menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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 above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code 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 listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

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

A useful variation you can choose, for example, to display a list of individuals 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 make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your main menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin plugin site and contact the plugin developer.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are other plugins you can use to create a staff directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

The Modern Team Staff Directory 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 – WP Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

You can also create custom fields …

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

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide 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.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

This plugin lets you add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, image and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

More info:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get 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 circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

This 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: plugin website)

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff to your site.

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

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