I can't speak for anyone else, but if I don't accomplish anything of substance at the end of the day, and this trend keeps on for multiple days in a row, I start getting really depressed.
I'm not saying that it's 100% open-office's fault if I don't accomplish much, but I do think it can be a strong contributing factor.
Are employees less depressed? (-->prevents PR issues)
Does the company get more done in the long term? (<--maximized retention)
This is a shit job and being close to other humans makes it easier to cope.