Anyway, we were excluded from meetings, and even when we were invited it was only for show and we were told to leave whenever the grown-ups had to make real decisions. The boss started showing people around the office saying "This is our accounts person, Jo. And our support person, David. Oh, and we've got a couple of geeks out the back but I won't bother introducing you to them."

This was an extreme example but it's often similar to that wherever I've worked: techies are viewed with a mixture of suspicion and contempt. If you can get over that and allow all your people to engage in decision-making (not always possible, but desirable, I believe) you will find it easier to retain them, despite lower salaries, etc. You probably know much of this anyway but it's worth keeping it in mind and using it to "sell" the job to potential applicants.