How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

Consumer behavior research shows that people often tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

Adding an employee directory to your site can help increase your credibility online and get interested prospects considering using your services.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to easily add a simple faculty members directory in a WordPress site without coding skills.

Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily build a simple staff directory for.

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

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

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will appear in your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Configuring Simple Staff List

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just begin to add new staff details at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups panel …

(Groups screen)

Note: Setting up groups is just like configuring categories …

(Groups are like categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group category name. 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 – Type in a group description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create the new group …

(Groups screen)

If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

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

Your selected category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click on 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 categories 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

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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: Enter the staff member’s name
• Slug: Edit the permalink URL for each employee if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the individual to a specific group (see above 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 tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

Once you are done entering each staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen 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 drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on Add New Group …

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

(Groups box)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering your staff or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• How To Navigate Around Your WP Control Panel

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

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Continue adding more entries to your directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members 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 of all the directory entries and their details …

(Staff Members table)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile information)

If you have many employees added to this section, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate listing items if necessary …

(Search members)

The plugin also lets you 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 tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding all of your staff details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which listings display on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the new location …

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

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

For example, here is the Default Template …

(Default Plugin Template)

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

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory 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 assistance.

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

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

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

Or, you can 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 dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

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

(Export Staff Members info)

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

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a staff directory in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can check out for creating an employee directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

This 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)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also use custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

Company Directory lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone, image and staff 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 learn 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 also uses simple shortcodes.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners 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 on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in 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)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin uses custom post types for employee 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 almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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

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

Models used to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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