The EU co-funded project will investigate measures aimed at enforcing better employee involvement within SMEs, taking the construction sector as a benchmark. The main focus will be on collective bargaining as a driver for managing the fragmented reality of worker representation SMEs on a territorial basis. Such practices can enhance a better implementation of Directive 2002/14/EC, Directive 98/59/EC6 and Directive 2001/23/EC. The research activity will also focus on innovative forms of employee participation, for instance related to performance-related remuneration, access to equity capital and the establishment of governance rules as already experimented in companies of bigger size.