How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

It’s often said in marketing circles that people will buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online and get people to interact more with your site, then help prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

If you use WordPress, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to add a WordPress staff list plugin that lets you display a directory listing with information about your partners, your faculty, or your employees.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily add a simple and easy-to-update simple faculty members directory to your site using a free plugin.

Adding A Staff List Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will display on the WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List 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 employee directory, you can just begin to add new staff member details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings up the Groups settings area …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up directory groups is just like setting up WordPress categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new group …

(Groups settings screen)

If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, project teams, 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 categories)

Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …

To change or reassign Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The category details open 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 your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select Quick Edit …

Click Update Group when done to save your changes …

Continue adding categories in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Edit the permalink URL for your staff member if required (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).

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 each of your employee’s details …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group added in Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a person’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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

Click View Post …

To edit your employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• Understanding Your WordPress Dashboard

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

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add new details to your staff or team directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your staff members and their details …

(Staff Members table)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate items if necessary …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the new location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in the WordPress 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 directory will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding all employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to create the layout and style of your staff directory listings 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 Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

For example, below is the Default Template …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory 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 dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.

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

Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options settings screen)

This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin website and request help from the plugin developer.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. Here are some other plugins you can look at:

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

This plugin lets you add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin provides 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 profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, pic and bio, allowing you to present 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 sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an individual member of your team in a 4-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 selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

Staffer 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 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 – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has helped you learn how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff members to your WordPress site.

Images used to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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