Terminating an employee because of personal problems they are having is always difficult. However, the bottom line is that you have to do what is right for the company. If you have met with the employee to discuss his inability to perform his job, if you have thoroughly documented these discussions, the employee has acknowledged that there is a problem, and the employee has done nothing to improve his performance, etc., than you have protected yourself. Tell the employee that you understand their situation, but that you have the company's bottom line to think about. If you have not done any of these, you need to start now. Establishing a written disciplinary policy should be effective in advising employees of what is expected of them in the event that there is a disciplinary problem. Documenting personnel actions is the only way to protect your company.

As a Human Resource Director, I am facing this same problem. I have had several conversations with an employee and they have clearly agreed that there is a problem at home and it is affecting her perfomance and the other staff members at the office. As an old boss of mine used to say when we started our day...."It's showtime ladies and gentleman".
Remember, as employers we are not there to babysit and counsel our staff. (This staff member is now calling me at home to discuss her harship.)
If the staff member is not willing to help themselves then how can they help you grow as an organization?
The bottom line is to document, educate staff on what is expected of them and do not take the situation to heart if you need to terminate them.

This type of situation has come in everybody's life. The company should give confidence to our employee and do conversation with him. The company must give some time to him for recover. After completion of their timelimit, they can take action against him.

After following all the statutory obligations, showing consideration and compassion and partnering with the person to get the job done (staying clear of personal involvement) focus on the business outcomes that are adversely affected by the problem. Those are the warranted needs of the Company and should be what we care about. Outcomes may be dminished morale of co-workers or other less tangbile results, but they are where the needs for you and the Company are not being satisfied after all your efforts to help.

We had this problem - we counseled the employee, we gave the employee time to go to counseling, we counseled and tried to improive performance. In the end, we let the employee go, and morale has been so much better since! My advice is to let the person go - maybe a new atmosphere will help the troubled employee also.