On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest level of stress and 10 being the highest level of stress, more than 31% of employees surveyed said their level of financial stress was a 10, while an additional 8% rated their financial stress level as a 7. Nearly 20% of employees rated their financial stress at 5 or moderate, while 25% rated their stress level a 1.

A little education or guidance from a professional may help employees deal better with their financial stress as the survey showed 30% of employees said their most important financial goal was to learn how to budget and deal with debt. And an additional 19% said their most important financial goal was to get a financial plan.

Nearly 40% of employees said planning for retirement was their most important financial goal. Thirty percent said they found their retirement plan at work difficult to understand, while 61% said the education they receive from their employer's 401(k) provider was adequate to extremely helpful. More than 17% said their 401(k) education was not helpful and 20% said they received no education about their 401(k), according to the Four Seasons survey.

Seventy-seven percent of employees admitted they never, rarely or sometimes read articles or web-based information provided by their employer's 401(k) provider. Only 21% said they often or very often read the 401(k) articles.

When asked what their employer could provide them with to help them with their retirement goals, 37% of employees said a customized retirement plan, while 36% said access to one-on-one professional guidance and 28% said live or web-based retirement education. Twenty-two percent of employees said they would like to include their spouse in retirement education.

More than 70% of employees said they would welcome the personalized and confidential guidance from an independent financial planner if their company paid for it, while only 26% said they would not want to talk to an independent financial planner.

Twenty-eight percent of employees said they would likely be willing to share some of the cost in a workplace financial wellness program if it could help them toward their goals. Another 43% said sharing some of the cost would be a possibility and 33% said they would unlikely be willing to share some of the costs, according to the Four Seasons survey.