Leaving my puppy alone

Question
I have a 10 week old chocolate lab puppy.  We are crate training him successfully and have left him alone for an hour or two at a time.  
With my schedule, I work 2 days, two nights and four days off. My boyfriend works regular monday to Friday. So far we have had someone watch him on my two dayshifts, however, we want to get out of that habit and this person is no longer available anyway.  My plan was to confine him to the kitchen area (nothing he can chew on to damage or hurt himself, toys to chew on, his water is available and a crate to sleep in).  My job allows me to stop by whenever to let him out.  I will also leave newspapers down as the breeder has him paper trained before we got him.  The problem is, today I had to sleep for backshift, so I confined him to the kitchen.  He cried for 45 minutes, then began to bark.  I gave in and brought him upstairs with me. I am concerned how he will handle it when I leave for longer periods of time.  I am not sure if he cried because he knew I was home or just because he was alone. Should he be confined to the crate only?  I thought a more open area would be better for him.  Should I just let him cry?  Should I deal with him differently when I am home then when he is alone?

Answer
The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy.  Very few houses even have a
safe room.  How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing
else?  Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else.  In addition
to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have
intestinal  blockage from the pieces.  I had a friend that left her dog in a
"safe" room.  It ate a hole in the floor covering.  The safe rooms fail to
give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires.  Nor
do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving
itself.

As long as somebody can manage to give the puppy or an older dog a break every 4-5 hours, I think the best place for an unattended dog is in its crate.  The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house.  It relaxes, it feels safe in its den.  It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self.  Dogs that have been crated all along do very well.  Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open.  I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling.  Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew.  

Leave it some toys.  Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter.  Don't leave
anything in the crate the dog might chew up.  It will do fine without even any
bedding.  You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

I don't like papers.  They only confuse the dog.  I see many questions from people that started with papers or pads and are struggling to get the dog to go outside.

You schedule may be confusing him.  Dogs prefer routine, regular hours.  He may adjust in time.  As for crying when you are home, the trick I use for the dreaded first few night by its self may work.  At bed time, with a new puppy, I have found lying down in front of the crate like you were going to sleep and speaking softly to it, or singing, until it settles down and goes to sleep works very well.  Follow the pattern, a period of active play, outside to eliminate, and then into the crate.