After identifying the different personas and demographics withinthe workplace, companies can put together a benefit package thatincludes options that reach the various groups. (Photo:Shutterstock)

Four out of five Americans have access to a retirement plan through their employer, but notmany people are using their plans. According to the U.S. CensusBureau, only a third of employees who have access to a retirementprogram are actively using it to save for their future.

It's not that the plans aren't effective, it's that they're notaddressing employees' specific financial needs.

Related: Your employees want their financial benefits to bemore personal

By taking a different approach, offering employees benefits morerelevant to their own needs, employers can make a bigger impact inboth adoption rates and employee engagement.

Employee persona creation

Every employee journey is unique. The needs of younger employeesmay be more focused on paying down student loan debt, while someolder employees may be getting ready for retirement. Unfortunately,providing a single financial benefit to meet every employees' needsisn't working.

To better address employees' individual needs, organizationsshould take the time to create employee personas.

Personas are generalizations of a few different types ofemployees within an organization, broken up by demographics,psychographics, and personal goals.

Retail companies may find groups of employees focused on studentloan repayments, while healthcare organizations may find theirmanagement teams looking for advice on sending their kids tocollege.

Using anonymous surveys, organizations can gain insights intothe stresses, goals, and benefits preferences of theiremployees.

Persona examples

While every organization is unique, some common themes amongemployee personas include:

Millennials: Almost three quarters ofmillennials are not currently saving for their retirement. If anorganization has many younger employees, management may besurprised to learn that demographic tends to be more concerned withkeeping their current bills paid than saving for retirement.

This stems from the fact that 63 percent of millennials carrymore than $10,000 in student loan debt, with an average debt load of$30,000 per person.

As companies build out employee personas, millenials and youngeremployees in general may be more focused on student loan repaymentor starting a family than contributing to their retirementplan.

Low-wage workers: Low-wage workers arealso likely not using their retirement benefits.

Entry-level and part-time workers face similar financial burdensas their coworkers, but their salary structure makes itincreasingly difficult to make headway. While saving for retirementmay be on their radar, 50 percent of low-wage workers work fororganizations with fewer than 10 employees and without traditionalhealth and wellness benefits.

This translates into many workers struggling to pay for health care costs out ofpocket, alongside managing childcare and other traditionalexpenses.

After identifying the different personas and demographics withinthe workplace, companies can put together a benefit package thatincludes options that reach the various groups. There may not beone benefit that works for all employees, but the goal should be tooffer a variety of benefit options that address the needs of thedifferent demographics.

Examples of targeted benefits

The need for more targeted employee benefits hasn't goneunnoticed. Some benefits providers like Gusto and Gradifi arerethinking how employers can administer their employee benefits tobetter address employee needs.

Gusto Gusto is rethinking payroll processingwith Flexible Pay, a new service that lets employeeswithdraw their paychecks on their own schedule. Getting paid everytwo weeks no longer makes sense for many employees. Having theflexibility to withdraw money as they earn their wages, daily orweekly, allows employees to avoid the predatory loan practices ofpayday lenders and avoid unnecessary debt long-term, which isespecially important for low-wage workers.

Gradifi Gradifi helps employees pay down theirstudentloans faster by giving employers the tools to administer andmonitor student loan repayment. Student loan repayment benefitshave helped employees pay down their loans 30 percent faster thanpaying them by themselves. Employers are leveraging services likeGradifi to offer student loan repayment as an employee benefit.

Some employees spend half the time they're at work feelingstressed about financial and personal issues. As employers rethinkbenefits plans, providing more targeted guidance and resources toemployees will not only create happier and healthier employees, itcan create long-term boosts to the bottom line.

Different messaging for different groups

In addition to offering more targeted benefits to employees ascompanies understand their different needs and goals, HR managerscan also send targeted messaging to those employee groups to betterengage them.

For some employees, email communication is still the mosteffective way to communicate, while other groups may preferperiodic text reminders or posters around the office for openenrollment.

Employee personas will shed light on the type of messagingemployees will respond to most and help companies craft customcommunications for each employee group to boost engagement andadoption rates with benefits. For example, employees planning onstarting a family soon might appreciate an open-enrollment reminderabout changing their health plans.

Chris Whitlow is the founder and CEO ofEdukate, aworkplace financial wellness platform with a mission to give everyperson access to expert financial guidance.