Who likes firing people? Pretty much no one.
Firing a person is confrontational, traumatic, scary, sad and plain hard. In the movie Moneyball, the general manager (played by Brad Pitt) is teaching his young associate how to fire someone (clip below). While it is funny, it also highlights the fear and avoidance that is typically associated with firing someone.
Basically, it is completely normal to not like firing people. Many times the person to be let go is not even an employee, but a contractor, consultant or service provider.
Of course, there are situations where it is best - for your company, your other employees, your self, your family and probably even the employee in question - to fire the person. Even so, it is still very hard to fire someone.
So what are the options?
1) Avoid the situation
2) Fire the person yourself
3) Outsource firing the person
4) Fix the behaviors
Option 1. Do nothing. Avoiding the situation is the most common approach for dealing with the problem. No action needs to be taken. The employee adapts in their own way - maybe becoming more aggressive or withdrawing from interactions. You and the other employees adapt - perhaps by looking for another job (other employees, not you) or spending more time on social media instead of working. Your stress level is going to be elevated, but at least you don't have to confront the person.
Option 2. The clean break. Call the employee in, explain that the situation is not working and they will have to find another job. A stressful encounter for both parties, of course. Once they are gone, then the rest of the company can move forward. Even so, many business owners will avoid this option as long as possible. And perhaps even longer.
Option 3. Outsource the firing. Just let someone else handle the situation. This time-honored approach has the advantage of avoiding the intense stress of the face to face encounter and also has the advantage of making the environment better for you and your other employees moving forward as well. Over the nearly 30 years since I first fired someone, I have seen many, if not most, of the people who I or others fired go onto much more successful situations after the initial transition period.
Option 4. Fix the behaviors. This options is the "easier said than done" option, but it is absolutely possible. There are many cases when you can "fix" the employee so that they become productive members of your team. For an example of changing an employee's behavior read this blog post.
Perhaps even more important than which way you choose to deal with the current situation is fixing the root cause of the situation so it does not come up again. For more about selecting employees that fit your business and keeping the employees that help you grow the business, read other Abunden blog posts and website.