How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

No doubt you’ve heard that people tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online? Then help prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding a directory of employees or team members to your site can help to generate greater trust, increase your online credibility and get interested prospects to contact you.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update simple employee directory to your web site using a free WordPress plugin.

Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily create a simple staff directory for.

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

Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will appear on your main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just begin to add new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place youremployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings …

(Groups settings area)

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

(Groups are like categories)

Create a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Enter 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 nested groups
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to create a new directory category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you manage a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, project teams, faculties, 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 hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

To change or reassign Groups for individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected item’s details 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 over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type the employee’s name
• Slug: Edit your staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Enter the person’s position here
• Email: Type the staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Add your employee’s phone number here
• Facebook URL: Add the staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type the staff member’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. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you 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 your employee’s details …

(Add Staff Member fields)

After you have finished inputting details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group link)

A field for entering your group name will display, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

The new group will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an individual to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing employee 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can update the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• Your WP Control Panel – A Tutorial

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

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

• Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details list)

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

Click on Edit if you need to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate items if required …

(Search members)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that your employees show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all employees’ listing details to the 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 set the order in which listings appear on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on your main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Plugin Template)

The The code shown above will display your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. 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 added to Staff Loop Template)

Your staff details will now display as shown in the example below …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.

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 opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page, for example, to display a list of persons belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales trainers”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options settings)

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

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need additional information about this plugin, go to the Simple Staff List plugin website and contact the plugin developer.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display a staff directory in WordPress. Here are a few other free plugins you can use for creating a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also use custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

This 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 profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, image and staff 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 staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus 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 source: Employee Spotlight website)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

Staffer uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your site …

(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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory 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 List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-update list directory of employees to your site with no coding skills required.

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

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