Let’s be real—corporate wellness programs are failing. Badly.
You’ve seen it before: the token yoga-at-lunch session, the employee assistance hotline no one uses, and maybe if you’re lucky, a once-a-month healthy lunch (which is just a sad tray of veggies next to the usual pizza). But when it comes to actually helping employees thrive? These programs barely scratch the surface.
Enter Liz Van Voorhis, the powerhouse behind Fit Collective, a company that’s taking corporate wellness from check-the-box nonsense to real cultural change. In this episode of The Circle of Possibilities Podcast, Liz gets brutally honest about:
So if you’re sick of empty wellness initiatives and want to know what actually works, keep reading.
Liz didn’t just stumble into wellness—she lived through it.
During the LA wildfires, she found herself in the middle of a disaster, but instead of panicking, she took action. As a Type 1 diabetic, she immediately thought about others in her situation—people who had lost everything, including the medical supplies they needed to stay alive.
While most relief efforts focused on food and shelter, Liz mobilized an entire network to deliver life-saving diabetes supplies to those in need. Over 400 volunteers stepped in, and the initiative reached hundreds of thousands of people in just days.
Takeaway? True wellness isn’t just about fitness classes and meal plans—it’s about community, resilience, and prioritizing what actually matters.
Most companies treat wellness like an optional add-on—something that looks good on paper but has no real cultural impact.
Liz calls out the core problem: wellness programs are top-down mandates that don’t address how work actually happens. Employees aren’t struggling because they lack access to a gym—they’re struggling because their calendars are jam-packed with pointless meetings, their workloads are unrealistic, and their companies expect them to be available 24/7.
The Fix? Culture has to change from the inside out—starting with leadership.
Ask someone why they don’t prioritize their health, and you’ll get the same answer: I don’t have time.
Here’s the truth: It’s never about time—it’s about prioritization.
Liz teaches companies to start with personal purpose and values. When employees understand what truly matters to them, they naturally start making better wellness choices. Because time doesn’t manage itself—you do.
Want a healthier, more engaged workforce?
Start at the top.
Liz shared a game-changing example: One of her corporate clients didn’t just approve a wellness program—they actively participated.
The CEO, COO, and CFO all joined daily virtual fitness classes during COVID. They talked openly about mental health and stress management. They led by example, not just policy.
The result? Employees actually embraced wellness because they saw their leaders doing the same.
Takeaway: If leadership treats wellness as a nice-to-have, so will employees. But when executives commit to it, the entire organization follows suit.
One of Liz’s boldest takes?
Wellness isn’t just a business strategy—it’s a human necessity.
She compares corporate wellness to business continuity planning—companies invest in IT infrastructure to prevent system crashes, so why don’t they do the same for their people?
If employees are burnt out, exhausted, and disengaged, your company is already losing money. But instead of cutting wellness programs first when budgets get tight, organizations should see them as investments in resilience, retention, and overall success.
At 30, Liz was grinding in corporate America, navigating massive life transitions, and questioning if she was on the right path. Her advice to her younger self?
“It’s all going to work out, because it always does.”
She also wishes she had prioritized investing in herself sooner—financially, physically, and mentally. Because here’s the kicker:
You will never regret prioritizing your health. But you will regret waiting too long.
Liz’s mission is clear: helping people realize their extraordinary potential.
And that starts with tearing down the broken wellness system and replacing it with something real, sustainable, and human-first.
Want to hear the full conversation? Listen to our episode of the Circle of Possibilities Podcast and get the full scoop from Liz herself.
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