How To Add A Staff Directory In WordPress

You have no doubt heard that people often tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cheaper ways to sell more products or services online or increase user interaction with your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

If your site uses WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you display information about your key people, your faculty, or your employees.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff to your website.

How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory: Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

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

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WordPress administration and from the admin menu section, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new entry will appear on your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up directory groups is similar to working with categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
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 section if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up the new directory category …

(Groups settings)

If you work with a business that employs many people, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, 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 directory hierarchy …

(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 over a category title and click on the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you have finished setting up your directory structure, the next step is to begin to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Permalink: You can edit your employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member to a 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)

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 employee’s details …

(Add Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you 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 category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(Groups section)

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

***

After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:

• Understanding The WP Control Screen

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding staff or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table of all your directory entries and details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to edit individual details, simply hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit 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 …

(Edit Staff Members profile information)

If you have many employees, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find items if required …

(Search members)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your staff details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new position …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your staff details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you edit the layout and style of your employee directory items 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 the menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

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

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

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you 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 – Usage Shortcode section)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page, 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=”property managers”])

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

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

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

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

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

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

This plugin lets you insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin 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 profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one single 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 that let you display featured and recent employees, and 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to add an easy-to-maintain employee directory to your website.

Images used to depict staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

***