How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

It’s often said in business circles that people often tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site, then help your prospects get to know you, your team and your organization better.

If your website uses the WordPress Content Management System, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your team, or your staff members using a staff list plugin.

This tutorial will show you how to create an easy-to-manage employee directory in WordPress.

Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you display basic information to visitors about your employee on your site.

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

Log into the WP admin and in your admin menu section, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will display on the main WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new staff details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This loads the Groups screen …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Configuring groups is similar to creating WordPress categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in 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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter a category description here
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up the new group …

(Groups settings)

If you are a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, 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 assign these to a directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for an individual item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

The group details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click Update Group when done …

Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your staff directory)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter the staff member’s name
• Slug: Edit each staff members’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

Once you have entered details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …

(Groups section)

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 for creating your group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …

The new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group added)

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

Click View Post …

To edit your staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the admin toolbar , go here:

• Using The WP Administration Panel

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up permalinks, see this tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list of all your directory items and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to edit individual details, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find a member if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that entries show on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its new position …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your staff list entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List 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 add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory profiles will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as shown in the screenshot below …

(Directory with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

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

A useful shortcode variation you can select, for example, 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”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export menu …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List website.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your employees. Here are some other free plugins you can check out for adding a directory on your site:

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

This plugin lets you set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: 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)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin uses shortcodes.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one 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.

With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

More info:

• 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 onsite staff directory …

(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.

Learn more here:

• Staffer

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff members to your web site.

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

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