WordPress & platforms

User roles and capabilities: least privilege for staff editors

Updated 2026-04-11 · Practical guide for NZ small businesses

Short answer: Not everyone needs Administrator—give editors the minimum rights to do their job and protect billing settings.

Shared passwords and everyone-as-admin is how NZ sites get silently defaced or invoicing plugins misconfigured.

Sensible defaults

  • Editor or Author for content staff; Shop manager for WooCommerce staff without full admin.
  • Separate accounts per person—no shared “marketing@” logins.

Capabilities plugins

Use carefully—document custom roles and review after staff changes.

Offboarding

Remove users promptly; rotate API keys for integrations they accessed.

Frequently asked questions

Should the agency keep an admin account?

Sometimes—use a named support account with MFA and a contract covering access periods.

What about contractors?

Time-bound accounts plus activity logging beats “here is the owner password”.