In reading this, I'm thinking to myself, they probably don't want to pay for this A-grade talent. It shouldn't be too hard to keep employees away from Google/F

In reading this, I'm thinking to myself, they probably don't want to pay for this A-grade talent. It shouldn't be too hard to keep employees away from Google/FB/etc if you're place is really that great to work. It's more likely the OP's employees don't like consulting, and the lifestyle of having to deliver unreasonable amount/quality of work in a short time that was over-sold to clients. If they can get B-Players into their company, that's doing well in my book. I'm often stuck hiring C and D players because of the corporate pay rates my company offers, and lack of perks that make us not competitive around town.