I used to think that each new generation of workers was pretty much like the last one, at least in big ways. We all want more money, more praise, more interesting work and colleagues who are pleasant enough to join for a sandwich at lunchtime.

Yet last week I started to wonder if 20-year-olds might be something different altogether. I had a conversation with a young man who, far from sharing sandwiches with his colleagues, has never even met them. He doesn’t talk to them on the phone either. Instead, Jamie Holmes has spent the past two years interacting with his bosses and with the people he recruits and trains entirely by text message and email.

What is even more peculiar is that he doesn’t think this arrangement is remotely strange. His description of how he and his team get along sounds rather good. They trust each other. They believe strongly in their shared project and feel loyalty to their employer, an online strategy video game developer. They exchange small talk and gossip. He says he knows them well and gets on with some better than others. Yet he feels no desire to clap eyes on any of them.