Longlivetherenegades : In all those slave illustrations, it was when the MASTER was LEAVING, TRAVELLING e.t.c that he handed out tasks to his slaves not when he RETURNED.
While it is true that the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) does start off "when a man was about to travel abroad", the Watchtower of March 15, 2015 discussed the parables of Matthew 24 & 25 and identified the slaves in this parable as representing all his anointed followers since Pentecost 33 C.E. They are expecting the "master of the slaves" to come and settle accounts towards the end of the great tribulation.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not identify these slaves with the "faithful and discreet slave" of Matthew 24:45-47, and it can be seen when reading the verses prior to vs 45 (vss 32-44) that they refer to the coming (not going) of the Son of Man.
Jehovah's Witnesses make a distinction between the parousia (rendered as 'coming' in some translations) referred to in Matthew 24:3, and his arrival or coming (forms of the Greek verb, er′kho·mai.) referred to in Matthew 24:30, 42, 44 which they expect during the great tribulation (Watchtower July 15, 2013, pp.23-27).