In advance of gathering such intelligence from the workforce, the white paper offers advice for enhancing benefits outreach to these three audiences. Let's begin, then, at the beginning: Generation X, the most underinsured segment.

Generation X benefits communications: use the web

"When compared to all generations, Generation X (those individuals born between 1965 and 1981) shows the widest gap between their need for life insurance and the amount they currently have in place. The New York Life study shows the gap for Generation X as 40 percent greater than for the American population as a whole. What's worse, the gap has increased by 24 percent since 2008," the white paper tells us.

Here are the top four methods for communicating better with Xers:

1. Embrace virtual marketing – As computer pioneers and members of the internet revolution, they are highly connected, use the web for online banking and shopping, and are influenced by social communities.
2. Focus on casual informational sessions – Setting up informational sessions within a trusted environment can leverage Generation X's social connectedness, while reducing their general skepticism of institutions.
3. Key in on significant life events – Marriage, divorce, having children or changing jobs are opportunities to remind this group of the impact these changes have on their financial status and what steps they can take to protect their lifestyle.
4. Build in time to ponder: Get the education part right, then give them time to complete the purchase process.

Read: How to communicate with Gen X

Generation Y benefits communications: Broad approach needed

Ah, the Gen Yers, the millennials. Perhaps the most thoroughly and excessively studied group of workers in history. The white paper says these youngsters "entered adulthood and the workforce during a time of significant economic and cultural change" and that they are driven by a consciousness of "an ever-increasing overall cost of living.

"With record-high levels of student debt, they are less likely than previous generations to meet their goals for home ownership, saving and investing," the white paper says. They aren't as behind the life insurance eight ball as Gen Xers, but then, they haven't had as much time to get as far behind. And perhaps they won't, if we act now.

"Employers can help by educating Generation Y workers on how to make the best use of existing benefits programs. Proven to be the least engaged and informed about many aspects of benefits, Generation Y needs and wants balanced education about all of their financial needs," the paper says.

Here are three ways employers can raise millennials' financial consciousness:

1. Use online resources, in addition to phone and face-to-face meetings, to inform;

2. Use their existing reliance on the workplace versus friends and family for information about benefits needs to proactively address them with customized messaging;
3. Open lines of communication with HR to offer guidance and support.

Read: How to communicate with Gen Y

Baby boomers: Two subgroups that prefer old-fashioned communications

Boomers, this white paper says, are actually split into two subgroups: those already basking in the soft light of Social Security and Medicare benefits, and those who still have a ways to go to get to that governmental promised land. This creates a situation where some of these workers are panicking about not having saved enough, while others are feeling pretty good about their situations.

The first are the "trailing edge boomers," who still have concerns. They've had to delay retirement due to the ravages of the last recession. "For the trailing edge boomers, the best news they can hear from their employer or advisor is that there is time to plan," the white paper notes.

The second group, the "leading edge" segment, are more content because their safety net is still largely intact and they had more years to save.

Despite the differences in the situations, communicating with these two groups requires a similar approach. Here are three basics for talking benefits to baby boomers:

1. Honest, simple language on benefits programs and financial planning;
2. Financial scenarios vs. personal conversations;
3. Messages about how to conserve/pass on their wealth to the next generation.

In other words, they like to talk to someone, they'll read clear and concise documents, and they'll make good decisions based on this. But they won't give up their own financial data easily — they prefer to protect their privacy, using input from experts to help them make informed judgments that will move them forward.

Photo: Associated Press Photo/Molly Riley

Read: How to communicate with baby boomers