It’s often said in business and marketing that people often tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online, then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
If you run a WordPress website, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that lets you add information about your key people, your faculty, or your employees.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple staff directory in WordPress without messing around with code.
Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory
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)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your WP dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu will appear on your main WP menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can begin adding new staff member details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups section …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding directory groups works just like categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Enter a group description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new directory category …
(Groups section)
If you run a larger organization, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, 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 organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member screen in your browser …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter your staff member’s name
- Permalink: Modify each staff members’ slug (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the staff member’s role
- Email: Add the staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number here
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username here (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 member here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign an employee or team member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
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 staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
Once you are done entering your staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group)
A field for entering your new group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
A new group will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
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 of the tutorial above for details).
***
After entering your team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
To modify the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the WP admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
For a detailed tutorial on setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding employee details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list displaying all your listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit an individual’s entry, just hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
If you have many entries, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find items …
(Search Staff Members search box)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific 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 Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added member listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which listings show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to a desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you edit the layout and style of your employee directory entries 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 opens the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize 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 The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory listings will now display as as shown below …
(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options on your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List faq page and request help from the plugin developer.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are some other free WordPress plugins you can look at to add a staff directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
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)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
Go here to learn more:
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 or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
For more details go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone, image and bio, allowing you to present 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.
Learn more about this plugin here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, 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 upon plugin activation.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP 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 a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to create an easy-to-update directory of employees in your site.
Images of models used to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"Your training is the best in the world! It is simple, yet detailed, direct, understandable, memorable, and complete." Andrea Adams, FinancialJourney.org