YOUR EMPLOYER may be big, it may be bureaucratic, and it may seem as if your voice could never be heard beyond the confines of your own office. But you can make a difference when it comes to your retirement plan.

If you are fed up with the investment options offered in your retirement account or your account fees are higher than average, you can bring about change but you must be committed to the process. It can take up to a year or more of needling administrators, organizing grassroots protests and spreading the word about the inadequacy of your plan.

From the experience of those who have had success, we've put together these seven recommendations for anyone interested in taking on their own benefits department.

1. Get Involved

Although your 401(k) may seem set in stone, the reality is that companies change their plans fairly often by switching investment managers or adding new investment options. Your company may be contemplating just such a change, in which case the time might be ripe for employee input. So get involved after all, it is your plan, so you should ask for what you want.

2. Speak Up!

It seems obvious, but letting yourself be heard is the first step toward convincing your company it has a problem with its retirement plan. Many employees are confused and unhappy but are too intimidated to do anything at all. If you voice your concerns about your plan, you may find out there's a solution you didn't know about. Or, you may discover that your concerns are widespread, in which case you find allies in your battle for change.

3. Enlist the Benefits Director

The administrator in charge of your company's benefit plans may seem like the enemy. But often, big decisions about the retirement plan (level of match, scope of investments) are made higher up. Indeed, the benefits department may see as many holes in your plan as you do and can be highly supportive in your efforts to convince management there's a problem. If the benefits director is in charge, then approaching him or her with a rational explanation of your complaint may be enough to make the difference or at least get the wheels moving. You might start with a letter requesting a meeting. Follow up with a phone call.

4. Do Your Own Research

Build your case by doing your homework. If you want to add a mutual fund, call the mutual fund company and get some information on management style and performance history. Demonstrate why that fund meets the needs of an employee like you (not just you alone) in ways current offerings can't. If your company is wimpy when it comes to matching, find out what some of its competitors do. Such information can help bolster an argument that your company's retirement plan is non-competitive. The better informed you are, the more persuasive you'll be.

5. Organize

If you have no luck with the benefits department, your next step is to solicit help from a company-sponsored employee group. If you work in a union shop, talk to your union representative. If the company has an employee representative on its benefits committee, talk to him or her. Or ask to join the committee. You can also begin a grassroots movement by organizing your colleagues to write the benefits department or otherwise complain to the higher-ups. This requires plenty of energy and time. And you're likely to get the cold shoulder from some colleagues who would rather not be bothered. But strength in numbers is a powerful concept and diminishes the impression that you are some random crank.

6. Go to the Top

As a last resort, go directly to the company president or the top executive in charge of benefits. Raise the issue at staff meetings in which higher-ups are present. Organize a group of workers to send complaints directly to the president s office, or corner him or her in the lunch line. Keep pressing until the issue is addressed.

7. Be Patient

It's important to remember that this process doesn't happen overnight. It could take as long as a year of persistent effort to get anybody to budge. And even if your company does decide it wants to change, it might not be in exactly the way you wanted. It will likely also take time for your company to research the options for itself and cut the requisite deals to make the changes a reality. Altering your retirement plan is not to be taken lightly, but the payoff can last a long time.