How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

Business experts often raise the point that people generally buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know your business better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your website can help to generate greater trust, increase your credibility online and get more prospects to buy from you.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff members to your website.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

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

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WordPress dashboard and in your admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …

(WP 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 the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will be added to 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 the Staff Members menu.

Configuring Simple Staff List

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new employee details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your directory groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups settings area …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Adding directory groups is similar to creating WordPress categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group 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 categories
4. Description – Enter your category description here (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create the new group …

(Groups section)

If you are a larger organization, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many categories and nested groups as you want 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 creating new items …

To edit or reassign Groups for an entry, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click Update Group when done to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member screen opens up …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

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

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s position
• Email: Type your staff member’s email here
• Phone Number: Add your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign your staff member 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 tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

After you are done entering details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group feature)

A field for entering a group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to 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 check box is ticked …

(New group)

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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• The WP Control Area Explained

Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …

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

To learn more about setting up permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Changing Your WordPress Permalinks

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done entering employee or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members table)

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

Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate member details if necessary …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your member details to the 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 in which listings display on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding your staff details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin 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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …

(Staff Members – 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, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

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

Your employee profiles will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the example below …

(Directory listings with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use.

For example, a useful shortcode 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=”Gold Level associates”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options settings screen)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export section …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

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

Other Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to create a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. Here are other free WordPress 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)

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The plugin lets you add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, as well as fields like title, email, phone, 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 learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

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

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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: Employee Spotlight plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory 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 sourced from plugin website)

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

More info:

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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