How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

Many business and marketing experts have successfully proven that people often 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 prospects to get to know, like and trust your business better.

If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that will let you display information about your partners, your business team, or your employees.

This tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-update employee directory to your WordPress site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory To WordPress

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List lets you easily build a basic staff directory for.

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into your WP administration and from the admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will appear in the main WP menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your directory, you could just begin to add new staff entries at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your group members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory categories. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups panel …

(Groups screen)

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

(Groups work like 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 slug of your category 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 nested groups
4. Description – Enter your category description
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create the new directory group …

(Groups settings)

If you work with a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many categories and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

To change Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …

Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add the staff member’s name
• Slug: Here you can edit each employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s role
• Email: Enter the staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in your staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter the person’s Twitter username into this field (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 staff members here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign an employee or team member to a specific 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 employee’s details …

(Add Staff Member settings)

Once you are done entering details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can create a group now 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 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 …

The new group will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial 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 modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

For a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar , go here:

• The WordPress Control Area – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

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

(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up permalinks, go here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Continue adding new details to your directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done entering staff or faculty members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list displaying all the staff members and the details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members details list)

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

Click on Edit if you want to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

If you have many employees, your table can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find member details …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which your employee listings appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all members’ details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which entries display on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all member listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to customize the style and layout of your 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 brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The This code displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above example. To make these fields show in your directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …

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

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, 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 menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

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

For example, a useful variation you can add to your page 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”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

You can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need any help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the plugin support page.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory 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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

This plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.

You can also add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

More info:

• Staff Directory

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

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

This plugin lets you easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, 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 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 uses a simple shortcode system.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus 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 sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

This 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 employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

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

To learn more about this 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 Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your site visitors can get to know you and the people in your organization better.

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

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