To think it was a bit shit of my direct report to say this?

I would be shocked at not having a 1:1 between a line manager & direct report before 4 weeks! 1:1s should be weekly when new in the job - potentially less frequently once the person is confident in their role. Very weird for them to start so rudely but I would have answered something like "not at all, it's important that we have good communication but if I end up asking you anything where you feel it's too early to tell the answer then that will be fine. Why don't we start off with you telling me a bit about how you are settling in and how you are finding things as you get used to your new role"

Obviously it might be too early to start doing KPIs/targets etc but that doesn't mean you can't talk.

Was that in response to something you'd said ie did you mention wanting to know future plans if that was the case then 4 weeks in with a part time member of staff then it was too early. If she walked into the meeting and blurted that out its incredibly rude.

She or he probably thought she was being summoned for scrutiny or a performance-type review which can be something to dread.
Depends on how you went about setting it up and communicating its purpose and what she knows or doesn't know, being new, of the system of management catch ups, reviews etc.

Reassure her you will always be available even though you are busy, and will schedule a weekly catch up so she doesn't feel neglected in the rush of everyday pressures.

You need to grow a thicker skin in the sense that your direct reports being dicks shouldn’t get to you or shake your confidence. But yes, your direct report is being a dick, and I would be slightly concerned about a response like that.

It does seem like an attempt at control. I think you might revisit it. “At our one-one-one you said it was too early to have it. What did you mean?”

Monthly meetings like this are fairly standard. I know some who have them weekly.

Is this a man?

It would ring warning bells with me. Typically people who haven't been in their jobs long do not take it upon themselves to tell their manager when they should meet with them. The fact that they did suggests an I know best attitude that can be hard to manage, and a lack of awareness of etiquette/ lack of filter that could cause issues if interpersonal skills are required in the role. I'd also see it as an indication they felt they'd not achieved anything worth discussing as yet and were maybe defensive about that.

If I have to move meetings to 9, I usually apologise or make a self-deprecating comment. I'd have laughed that off if I hadn't got in there early.

Not sensitive at all that's inappropriate for them to say that and I'd have a mental small red flag up for the time being over their attitude.

Nothing wrong whatsoever in having a check in after 4 weeks.

Are you sure they didn't mean far too early in the morning?

Even if not, it is their one to one and that was useful insight for you to gain. I'd have taken it to mean that she is still getting to grips with her day to day and hasn't yet had the head space to think much about the future. It wouldn't have crossed my mind to take it personally.

Actually this is workplace-dependent. Where I work 1:1s are (by policy) monthly, a manager can't just decide to do them weekly. It sounds very regimented but it's designed to stop employees being singled out - if they need a more frequent 1:1, that's potentially a sign you're underperforming and that is managed through a specific process.

It was a strange comment from her, and it would have been questioned by me then and there.

That said, you really need to make time for a monthly 1-1 with your staff, 6 weeks bare minimum, regardless of how busy you are.

If you leave it a few months because you're "busy" who knows what you'll find when you do do one.

Hmm, that's a dick comment by the staff member.

However, what time was the meeting? Did it require them to travel in particularly early this morning or anything?

Did they definitely mean too early in their employment for a review or did they mean too early in the day and make a badly landing joke?

Youre not being sensitive, they’re overstepping. If you want a weekly one on one you can have one.

I’d make a note of when this happened. If they are happy to be rude to you they might be rude to colleagues and clients too.

I don’t see how it could be too early to do an informal one-to-one catch up.

It depends on how you positioned it, was just a catch up, or was it more formal?

I don’t think it’s a good message to give a report that you will be too busy for the next few months. The message to them should always be you are always available for a catch up or to support them.

do you have scheduled in regular biweekly or monthly catch ups? these can be informal even if they’re just to find out how they’re feeling.

At my workplace meetings with managers are either supervisions or reviews. Probation reviews are at 3 and 6 months, supervisions are monthly. There's no such thing as a pre-arranged meeting with a manager that isn't one of those (unless of course it's a day to day business-related matter). So I can understand if your recruit is a bit nervous if you've put a meeting in that doesn't follow the specified timescales as it might sound like you are blurring the boundaries between supervision/probation review/general chat. You might just need to clarify what the meeting is.

I wouldn’t have been impressed by the comment tbh. Not everyone settles into a new role easily and if someone needs extra training or support the earlier they get it the better.

That wasn’t a good start by them.

i think I would ask “Why do you think that?”

Maybe you went into it expecting different things. You wanted to see how she was doing and if she needed help, but maybe she was expecting a "let's check you're doing everything right" performance review type thing, which it would be too early for.

But on another level, I'd be more concerned that if you really won't have time to do this otherwise in the next few months, how are you planning to supervise and coach her on the meantime?

Definitely need a thicker skin. Line managing can be totally shit!
But, their response is odd! In my company we catch up every week for the first month, then a formal probationary meeting at weeks 6 and 12 with as many informal catch up as desired. Never to early to catch up and see how things are going, it's an opportunity for two way conversation.

I’d assume they’d worked in a place where management was very hands off, or that they only ever met when assessing performance and they assumed that was the purpose of the catch up. I’d also assume their interpersonal skills needed some work.

I think 4 weeks was a perfect time to check up on them. Long enough to have given them time to get an idea of what the place is all about but early enough to catch any issues they aren’t sure about.

It’s a bit of an odd response. I have catch-ups with my team members at the end of the first week, as much to let them know I care as anything else. A month is too long for me, in case there’s been anything that needed putting right.

They're wrong, not you.

I have weekly catch ups with everyone on my team. It's good for them to have time for me just to listen to them, and it's good for me to catch anything I can support them better with.

If you waited until she's been in the role six months before asking how it was going you wouldn't doing your job!