Reared on text messages and e-mail, new British graduates avoid talking directly to colleagues in the workplace and would rather use instant messaging or a webcam, according to a survey.
A poll carried out for electronics retailer Plantronics showed 63 percent of British managers saying new graduates communicated less vocally than their colleagues.
"The way this new generation wants to work is different and that's no surprise," said Plantronics UK general manager Paul Clark. "Graduates today have grown up with newer forms of communication."
Only 16 percent of managers attributed the reluctance to pick up the phone or talk face to face to a lack of interpersonal skills. Most blamed a lack of privacy in modern offices and the security of being able to refer back to e-mails.
In January, a survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters said those born since 1982 were ambitious, demanding, confident verging on overconfident and technologically aware. But some were also described as simply self-centred, fickle and greedy.