If I can give just one example, as the manager of a computer department, it was essential that my staff were housed in two separate enclosed areas - one for the data preparation and computer operations staff where noise was inevitable, and the second for the systems and programmingstaff who needed a quiet environment in which to concentrate and create.
While COBOL has not gone away at the banks, more and more of the technical staff spend their time programming new features and interfaces in modern languages and web application frameworks that provide highly applicable and transferable skills to startups only too happy to hire them for their technical training and domain experience.