The glitch that causes followers/companions/spouses to unequip the gear you give them upon leaving/reentering whatever cell they're in.
If not, are there any workarounds?

Nothing is more frustrating than trying to equip someone with armor (Such as a spouse or hireling), only to come back an hour later and find them naked... with both my armor and theirs still in their inventory.

For spouses this would be kind of neat, had there not been a housecarl sitting next to them >
Seriously though. Anyone?

No, it hasn't been fixed.

Any word if it will be?

Its called reverse-pick pocketing, and I don't know why they removed the feature. Notice I said removed, meaning more than likely they intentionally made it so you cannot change NPC's day to day clothing.

you can still reverse-pick pocket....sadly it isn't the Fallout 3 style reverse pick pocketing where it actually works lol you have to get the RIGHT armor or clothing for it to work without going through the hassle of finding the right clothing...48 hours later in Skyrim they should fix it

It will never be fixed. Bethesda doesn't even acknowledge the problem.