Who knows what their intentions are, but they’re still spreading a good message. And to be fair there is a difference between a fairly lax work from home policy and wanting to work from home permanently. It could also just be a smaller company where they don’t really have official policies for things that haven’t come up yet.
If you really thought this, it'd be company policy and the employee wouldn't have to ask. Faked for engagement? ( sopuli.xyz )