They’re calling it the “Great Gloom.” Employee happiness has declined steadily since 2020, and is now even lower than it was during the darkest days of the pandemic. The one exception was the first quarter of this year, when workplace happiness edged up slightly before resuming its downward trend, according to a report from BambooHR, an HR software and services company with data from more than 1,600 companies. Unclear return-to-work policies, the divisive political climate and worries about layoffs are all weighing on employees. “Then there’s AI (artificial intelligence), which could be coming for your job,” said Johnny Taylor Jr., CEO of SHRM, formerly the Society for Human Resource Management.