Manulife does away with cubicles

Toronto

MANULIFE Financial Corp's 90-year-old global headquarters in Midtown Toronto, fronted by limestone columns and a manicured lawn, have had a makeover.

Inside the regal building of Canada's largest insurer, employees can sit at any desk, get their phones fixed at the in-house technology hub, check out the herb garden in the new cafeteria, and charge their electric cars in the parking lot. That's if they even come into the office to work.

The insurer, which employs about 29,000 people around the world, aims to knock about 25 per cent off its property b…