The increase in European Union member states, from the original 10 to 27, is triggering radical changes in employment and working conditions throughout the EU. This volume presents timely information on the essential but rarely studied area of social policy in the EU enlargement process. It looks at the evolving practices in the world of work and how these may affect workers and their families. Comprehensive in scope, the book provides information on the trends in all important elements of the world of work in the enlarged EU: employment contracts, working time and work intensity, wages, training, health and safety, social dialogue and workers' participation, and work-family balance. It does this through a series of case studies that highlight what practices are put in place at enterprise level and how different working and employment conditions are combined and interact at local levels.