How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

No doubt you already know that people generally tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products online or increase user interaction on your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website can help to generate greater trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects to consider using your services.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to add a list directory of staff or team members to your web site using free WordPress plugins.

Adding A Staff Directory In WordPress: Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you display information about your staff on your website.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your dashboard and navigate 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 the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will have been added to your main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could start adding new staff details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups panel …

(Groups settings)

Note: Adding groups is very similar to working with categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter the category description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up the new category …

(Groups section)

If you run a business that employs many people, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group 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 entering each new item …

To change or reassign Groups for a particular item, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The selected category details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your staff directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your employee’s name
• Slug: Modify your staff members’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your staff member’s role
• Email: Your employee’s email address
• Phone Number: Your employee’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: Add your company’s Twitter username (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 or faculty member here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each staff member’s details …

(Staff directory settings)

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

(Groups feature)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

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

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an employee or team member’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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the admin toolbar , go here:

• The WordPress Administration Area Explained

Note: If you see an error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site permalinks …

(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to continue adding new details to your staff or faculty directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the listing entries and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to change an individual’s entry, simply hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

If you have many names to add, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find listing items …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that listings show on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you edit the layout and style of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The This code displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

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

Your directory entries will now display as as shown below …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

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

In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

For example, a useful variation you can select to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales trainers”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

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

Other Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are some other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also includes 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 – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, image and bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just an individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

Detailed information about  each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

This 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 an onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

If the above plugins 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
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-update simple employee directory in your web site without coding skills.

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

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