I do disagree with the premise though. As someone who's worked in the tech field for 15+ years and has been on plenty of interviews, I for one would much rather do a short homework assignment than have to stand in front of a few people and white board shit in real-time.
Here are reasons why it's a solid idea:
1. Way more closely simulates a real work environment. I've never had a job where I get the assignment moments before I have to code it, use a whiteboard to write code, am severely time-boxed and have a group of people watch me work.
2. More inclusive. Your work stands out more when someone isn't making judgements based on looks, age, gender, etc.
3. If you complain about having to spend a couple hours outside the interview on work, maybe you don't really want the job that bad enough. People will spend weeks on an unpaid open-source project but then complain about 2 hours for something that might get them a great job.
Having said that, I agree with you also that the interview can be a great time to go over the homework and ask questions, talk about why a particular strategy was chosen, etc.
I would personally love to see more interviews go away from whiteboards and more towards homework.
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