The feeling is often that using such old software implies being "backwards" so possible vulnerable to exploits in the older code. Of course while the browser is still officially supported (as IE11 is due to be for some time) security releases are still being made so it should in theory be as safe as a current browser.
BUT:
1. Still using IE8 is absolutely a red flag, that stopped being supported in 2016.
2. Being so far behind with browsers may imply being behind generally, and while IE11 is still security patched maybe the organisation runs other old software that isn't (news flash: I can report that at least two organisations I know of routinely run software in their back-office environments that is not longer supported at all because the vendor closed, the product was never passed on to other maintainers or opened, and projects to replace the affected software are massively behind schedule - for obvious reasons I won't state who those organisations are and what the software is).