Get Organised With This Free Employee Directory Template

No matter how long you’ve been in your current role, everyone remembers what it feels like to be the newbie. You don’t know where everything is or what everyone does — let alone remember anyone’s name!

But members of your team don’t have to be new to want quick and easy access to company information. And people can be self-conscious about asking their colleagues lots of questions, especially about anything that could be perceived as ‘pretty obvious’.

Well, that’s where an employee directory comes in.

In this guide, we’ll look at what an employee directory is and why it’s useful, and I'll share five easy steps for putting one together quickly and easily with an employee directory template.

I’ve also included a free employee directory template so you can get started on your own people directory straight away.

Let’s get started.

What is an employee directory?

An employee directory is a central database that stores information about your employees.

The directory contains all team-related data that’s useful to have in one place — like everyone’s name, department, and contact details.

Every employee directory will contain slightly different information, but it’s common to include:

First and last name
Job title
Department
Location
Email address
Phone number

An employee directory comes in many forms — it might be a shared spreadsheet or folder, or live within cloud HR software like Charlie. Typically, the employee directory is shared company-wide so that everyone has easy access to the information they need, whenever they need it.

The benefits of an employee directory

An employee directory (also known as a people directory or staff directory) is a useful tool for anyone involved in HR at a small business, but it also benefits the rest of your team. This is because a good employee directory is more than just a way of sharing contact information — it’s also a valuable asset for communication, culture, and transparency.

Done right, an employee directory can:

Increase productivity: your team can quickly access information and make decisions on who to contact, so there’s less waiting around for answers or spending time on repetitive, time-consuming tasks
Increase transparency: the directory acts as a single source of truth for employee information
Promote autonomy: team members can find and use the data whenever they need to, without asking anyone
Improve communication: with a central record of everyone, it’s easier to start conversations and improve cross-team collaboration
Identify staffing needs: an up-to-date employee directory can help with identifying gaps, employee management, and keeping track of everyone’s’ needs
Enhance your onboarding process: new starters can learn about their team and the company easily and independently
Cultivate company culture: creating rich employee profiles will encourage people to get to know each other better (include personal interests, professional goals, and preferences, for example)
Keep communication relevant: send location or team-specific communication to the people who need it
Act quickly in a crisis: message to the right employees quickly if there’s a problem.

So there are more tangible positives to an employee directory than you probably thought!

And to ensure that your own small business benefits from all of them, you need to use an employee directory template.

How to use an employee directory template

Setting up an employee directory from scratch may seem daunting, especially if you’re not a huge fan of databases. So the good news is that you don’t have to! Employee directory templates are available to help.

Follow these five easy steps for the perfect employee directory template:

1. Find the right employee directory template

The first step is to find the right employee directory template for your needs. This will depend on what you currently use, the software you have, and how you want your employee directory to function.

If you already use cloud HR software (also known as HRIS or an HR platform), check to see if there’s a people directory feature included. For example, you don’t actually need an employee directory template if you use software like Charlie, as you can quickly and effectively create your own people directory within the system. Just like an employee directory template, Charlie guides you through the set up so that you have all of your employee data in one place.

If you don’t have access through HR software, check whether your project management or CRM software can help. you create one. Many productivity and project management tools have a template gallery and may include an employee directory template.

And if you don’t use HR or CRM software, you can create your own employee directory in Excel or Google Sheets using an employee directory template.

And you don’t need to look far to find a great employee directory template for Google Sheets — we have one right here:

Download our free employee directory template and use it as you move through the next few steps.

2. Decide what data to include

After you’ve found the right employee directory template for your business, you need to decide which data fields are essential, which are voluntary, and which you don’t need at all.

At its most basic, your employee directory should include:

Name
Role
Contact details
Preferred pronouns.

You might also want to add other info like start date or length of time at the company, birthday, or other spoken languages.

If your goal is to create a people directory with in-depth profiles, you might introduce voluntary fields where people can talk about their pets or favourite foods, or give an insight into their work or communication preferences. If you use Charlie for your employee directory, adding custom fields like this is easy.

Some businesses choose to include photos in their employee directories, while others are purely text-based. Your employees may feel more comfortable if they have the option to customise an avatar or use an illustration instead of a photo, so it’s worth considering how you can be inclusive — especially when it comes to sharing personal information with the whole company.

3. Collect data for your employee directory template

Your employee directory template is now set up and ready to go, but it’s missing something crucial — the data. This part of the process is much easier with a little organisation and some tools to do the heavy lifting.

If you’re starting your employee directory template from scratch, this will usually involve manual data entry into a spreadsheet or database.

If you’re using HR or CRM software, there are probably built-in features or integrations to move data from one place to another and cut down the manual entry. For example, Charlie has a CSV bulk importer to automatically add all of your team to your new account.

You may not hold all the data you want collected in an employee directory template, so you’ll need to encourage your team to do this. HR software like Charlie will send out automatic prompts to all employees once you’ve imported their names and email addresses.

4. Customise your new employee directory

An employee directory template helps you organise your data, but before you share your live directory with everyone, take a moment to customise it so it matches your brand and culture.

Add your company logo, and update the template to match your brand colours, fonts, and style, while also keeping readability and accessibility in mind. If there’s space, add a welcome message or introduction on the directory page so users know what it’s for and what information it holds.

Again, if you use cloud HR software like Charlie, everything is already branded up and ready to go.

You’ve found an employee directory template, customised it, and built a people directory that includes essential information and represents your culture. Now it’s time to share it with your team.

Share the link to the directory in an email, team chat or on your Charlie dashboard, and explain why it exists and how to use it. Invite feedback and then use comments, insights or criticism to help you develop the directory into an even more valuable resource.

Get organised with our free employee directory template

A good employee directory template will help you organise your essential employee data and provide a central location for everything your team members need to know about each other.

Employee directory and employee directory template FAQs

An employee directory can inspire questions. Here are some of the questions we’ve heard the most:

How do I create an employee directory?

There’s no one way to create an employee directory, but we recommend following our five-step process listed above. Use our free employee directory template to kickstart the process.

What should I include in a staff directory?

A good employee directory template will have fields for essential data like name, role, department, and contact info. Beyond these basics, it’s up to you what you choose to include.

Identify which fields are mandatory, and which could benefit different user groups — like HR, managers, and individual employees. You could even survey your team to find out what voluntary fields they’d like to see.

How do I maintain an employee database?

After you’ve created your directory with the employee directory template, maintaining it is an ongoing effort. Keep it up to date by including a reminder to update the database as part of your new employee starter checklist and offboarding checklist.

Who should have access to the employee directory?

Your employee directory should be visible to everyone working for your company. You might also choose to share the directory with freelancers, contractors, or agencies.

For some employees, like those involved in HR, it may be useful to have additional permissions and the ability to add private fields or notes as this saves having to create a separate database for recruitment or HR purposes.