Maybe this video will help you? I have found this woman's advice to be very helpful.
Also consider how your crate training is going. Do you mostly confine your puppy to its crate when you are about to leave? If so, the puppy will associate the crate with your absence.
Practice using the crate with you in the room often when you are home. Feed in the crate, put toys in the crate, praise and pet the puppy in the crate. Leave the crate open when you are not confining so the puppy can go in and out as it wishes. Also consider training your puppy to go in its crate on command with a word like "crate" or "kennel." This reinforces that there are times when you want them in their crate and they must obey, just like every other command. It also teaches that they get praise and a treat when they follow through on the "crate" command.
I have Mishka's crate open within a larger playpen in the main room during the day. I give Mishka her meals in their after she goes in when I say "crate." She has a second bed outside her crate that she lays on also. She often goes back and forth between the two. At night, I move the crate into the bedroom. I say "crate," she goes in, and I close her in there with her soft toys to sleep with and a generous treat, bone, etc. She only cries when she needs to go to the bathroom or if she's thirsty (although I try to predict her needs and take her out of the crate to attend to them before she cries). Before she falls asleep she always rolls around with her soft toys, talking to them. She loves it in there!
